Botswana’s trade deficit surged to its highest level this year in November 2024, driven by a sharp drop in diamond exports, while copper overtook the precious stones as the country’s top outbound commodity for the first time in years, official data showed.
The deficit widened to P6.8 billion in November, surpassing two quarters’ worth of shortfalls in a single month, as exports collapsed 44 percent month-on-month to P2.3 billion, according to Statistics Botswana’s International Merchandise Trade Report.
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