World Economic Outlook Update: Mild Slowdown of the Global Expansion, and Increasing Risks

The IMF June 2011 World Economic Outlook Update shows that activity is slowing down temporarily, and downside risks have increased again. The global expansion remains unbalanced. Growth in many advanced economies is still weak, considering the depth of the recession. In addition, the mild slowdown observed in the second quarter of 2011 is not reassuring. Growth in most emerging and developing economies continues to be strong. Overall, the global economy expanded at an annualized rate of 4.3 percent in the first quarter, and forecasts for 2011–12 are broadly unchanged, with offsetting changes across various economies. Click here for more..

Implementing the APRM: Views From Civil Society - South Africa Report (June 2011)

This report was published by the South african Institute for International Affairs (SAIIA) and reflects the views of civil society researchers and activists convened by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) on the implementaion of the APRM in South Africa. It takes as supplementary reference points South Africa's Implementation Reports (SAIRs). The report intends to complement the two SAIRs by providing evidence based feedback on how the issues in the Country Review Report have been addressed since 2007. Click here for the full report.

Growth and Macroeconomic Convergence in Southern Africa

This African Developement Bank Working Paper No 130 (June 2011) investigates convergence in real per capita GDP and macroeconomic policy and stability indicators within the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). Empirical tests for the period 1992-2009 showed no evidence of absolute beta and sigma convergence in real per capita GDP among the SADC economies. Although absence of convergence does not necessarily imply lack of economic growth, further empirical assessment of possible conditional beta convergence did not reveal any tendency of convergence to own steady states. The tests indicated that Botswana and South Africa's real per capita GDP converged to a common stochastic trend while the rest were characterised by a boundless drift. Click here for the full paper.

Botswana's Success: Good Governance, Good Policies, Good Luck

Over the past 60 years Botswana's economy has been recorded as one of the most succesful in the world. The country's achievement is remarkable because at independence, in 1966, its prospects were not that encouraging. Although the country is landlocked, it has defied the odds by creating a succesful economy. Click here to access this book chapter.

Source: Yes, Africa Can: Success Stories From a Dynamic Continent; Edited by Punam Chuhan-Pole and Manka Angwafo, and published by the World Bank, Washington DC, 2011. The full publication is available  here.

Institutions and economic development: theory, policy and history

This article, in Journal of Institutional Economics, tries to advance the understanding of institutional economics by critically examining the currently dominant discourse o institutions and economic development. The article argues that the discourse suffers from theoretical problems - its neglect of causality running from development to institutions; its inability to see the impossibility of a free market; its belief that the freest market and the strongest protection of private property rights are best for economic development; and its poor understanding of changes within institutions themselves. Click here to access the article.

Statement at the Conclusion of an IMF Mission to Botswana

The IMF mission visited Botswana from 18th to 31st May to conduct the 2011 Article IV Consultation discussions. The mission's work focused on reviewing recent economic developments and prospects and policies to ensure continued macroeconomic stability and growth. Click here to access the press release by the IMF following this mission. 

Institutions and Sectoral Diversification in Botswana

This paper argues that countries with good institutional environments can promote sectoral diversification in an economy by subsidizing firms with positive externalities. The existence of external benefits that can be realized through subsidization is shown with a standard trade model, and an extension of that model shows that good political institutions-specifically, strong constraints on the executive to prevent corruption will lead to more needs being realised from subsidies, that is, all other things being equal. Data from Botswana lends support to this theory. Click here to access the full paper.

Trade Liberalization, State Trader Management Tenure, and Grain Pricing in Botswana

This journal article, authored by Dr T. B. Seleka of BIDPA, examines how trade liberalization and grain marketing board management tenure influenced grain pricing in Botswana. Regression analyses of nominal protection rates (NPRs) and marketing margins (MMs) are used to test the hypothesis that policy reforms influenced grain pricing in the country. Moreover, a comparison of NPRs is undertaken to determine whether management tenure has had an influence on grain pricing. The results indicate that the marketing board switched from taxing to subsidizing consumers following the 1991 policy reform from food self-sufficiency to food security. A reversal occurred after the board's 1997 restructuring, which involved, among other things, closing down Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board's (BAMB's) loss-making units and a change in the composition of BAMB's board of directors. Management tenure at BAMB also had an influence on grain pricing. The period 1989-1997, in particular, was characterized by high consumer subsidization, highest marketing margins, and lowest profits. This could have been avoided had management adopted pricing regime consistent with public policy. This notwithstanding, perennial losses experienced by the marketing board also resulted from fragmented production and low producer market participation.

The article appears in Journal of International Food & Agribusiness Marketing Volume 23, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 167 - 186

National (Botswana) accounts return to surplus

This article (Mmegi newspaper) indicates that Botswana's balance of payments, or Botswana's net financial position with the rest of the world, has been in deficit since 2008, with trade imports outweighing exports and net international investment earnings waning due to the recession. However Bank of Botswana  reports that Botswana's balance of payments returned to surplus in the first quarter of 2011. Click here to read the full article.

Global Economic Prospects 2011: Maintaining progress amid turmoil

According to this World Bank report released in june 2011 the global financial crisis is no longer the major force dictating the pace of economic activity in developing countries. Rather, country-specific productivity and sectoral factors are now the dominant factors underpinning growth. The report has upheld an expectation of 6.5 percent growth for Botswana's economy in 2011, indicating that the country's trade balance could return to positive after nearly three years of running deficits. Click here to access the full report.