## Addressing Growth Bottlenecks in Botswana

_Selected Issues Papers, December 30, 2025_

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Yomna Gaafar, Alexis Mayer Cirkel, Marina Mendes Tavares, Ann-Alice Ticha
- Published: December 30, 2025
- Series: Selected Issues Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229035385.018

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### Overview and context
- Botswana achieved strong post-independence growth supported by prudent macroeconomic management and diamond revenues.
- Over the past two decades economic performance has weakened, with slower growth, persistently high unemployment, and erosion of fiscal and external buffers.
- Declining global demand for diamonds has heightened the urgency of economic diversification.
- The note uses a dual approach: firm-level evidence from the 2023 World Bank Enterprise Survey and a cross-country macro-structural empirical model.

### Firm-level findings (2023 World Bank Enterprise Survey)
- Key obstacles reported by firms:
  - Limited access to finance
  - Governance challenges
  - Land tenure issues
  - Infrastructure gaps

### Macro-structural analysis and model findings
- Applied a cross-country empirical model to estimate growth gains from reforms.
- Reforms examined include:
  - Improvements in institutions
  - Reforms in credit markets
  - Changes to labor regulations
- Findings show strong alignment between firm-level concerns and macro-level reform priorities, supporting targeted structural reforms to boost medium-term growth and diversification.

### Policy implications and recommendations
- Prioritize targeted structural reforms that address both firm-level constraints and macro-level bottlenecks, including:
  - Enhancing access to finance and deepening credit markets
  - Strengthening governance and institutional quality
  - Addressing land administration and tenure issues
  - Closing infrastructure gaps, including electricity and related services
- Implement coordinated reforms across institutions, credit markets, and labor regulations to achieve estimated growth gains from the macro-structural model and to support diversification away from diamonds.

*Source: "Addressing Growth Bottlenecks in Botswana", Selected Issues Papers (2025) by Yomna Gaafar, Alexis Mayer Cirkel, Marina Mendes Tavares, and Ann-Alice Ticha, December 30, 2025.*

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## Content in this bundle

- **Addressing Growth Bottlenecks in Botswana; IMF Selected Issues Paper No. 2025/160; December 2025**
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  - [Addressing Growth Bottlenecks in Botswana; IMF Selected Issues Paper No. 2025/160; December 2025 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/selected-issues-papers/2025/english/sipea2025160.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"}

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/selected-issues-papers/issues/2025/12/30/addressing-growth-bottlenecks-in-botswana-572957_