Botswana has moved a marginal one place up the Global Connectedness Index and now ranks at 134 from 135 last year out of 140 countries covered, a report by logistics company DHL has revealed.
Global Connectedness Index, launched in 2005, ranks 140 countries according to the depth and breadth of their integration into the world economy.
The index is a detailed analysis of international flow of trade, capital, information and migration and also measures connectedness at the global, regional and industry levels.
It also features policy analysis aimed at helping countries capture more benefits of global connectedness.
Other African countries to rank higher than Botswana include Mauritius, ranked 40th, South Africa is in 48th position, Angola is 90th while Madagascar and Namibia take 107th and 109th positions respectively.
It has much higher depth (82nd) than breadth (140th).This pattern is particularly notable on the trade pillar, where the very low breadth of Botswana’s merchandise exports can be seen on the rooted map shown on this page.
More than half of Botswana’s merchandise exports go to the United Kingdom, which is reflective of the importance of diamonds in Botswana’s export profile. With respect to its pillar level depth scores, Botswana’s connectedness is deepest on the people pillar, on which it ranks 34th out of 116 countries globally, and within that pillar it ranks 4th worldwide on the depth of its outward international students.
Burundi is the world’s least connected country with the Central African Republic coming second from last. However, the main finding of the report is that global connectiveness has declined over the years. Analysts, however, contend that Botswana is destined to gain more ground due to DTC relocation into the country.
