Botswana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the third quarter of 2023 has experienced a significant decline of P5.1 billion. This decline represents a quarterly decrease of 7.3 percent in nominal terms. The latest figures released by Statistics Botswana reveal that the country’s GDP dropped from P70,110.0 million in the second quarter to P64,997.1 million in the third quarter of the same year.
During the quarter under review, Public Administration and Defence became the major contributor to GDP by 17.3 percent, followed by Mining & Quarrying by 14.4 percent. The Public Administration and Defence sector rose by 6.4 percent in real value added compared to a 5.5 percent increase during the corresponding quarter of 2022while real value added of Mining and Quarrying declined by 9.2 percent and was mainly influenced by the decrease in the Diamond real value added by 9.8 percent. “During the quarter under review, Public Administration & Defence became the major contributor to GDP by 17.3 percent, followed by Mining & Quarrying at 14.4 percent, Wholesale & Retail at 11.5 percent and Construction at 11.3 percent.”
Public Administration and Defence includes activities of Central and Local Government together with Extra Budgetary Bodies (Parastatals) which organize and finance the provision of goods and services to individual households and the community at large while mining involves extraction and processing of minerals. Wholesale & Retail deals with the sales of fast moving consumer goods. The construction industry comprises of buildings construction, civil engineering and specialized construction activities.
Real Estate Activities registered an improved growth of 6.3 percent due to better performance from Real Estate Services by 7.4 percent. Property loans went up by 39.5 percent in the third quarter of 2023. Real estate services include buying, selling, renting, and operating self-owned or leased real estate, such as apartment buildings and dwellings, Non-residential buildings, including exhibition halls, self-storage facilities, malls, and shopping centres.
Administrative Support and Services Activities real value added increased by 6.3 percent in the third quarter of 2023 compared to a growth of 5.1 percent registered in the same quarter of the previous year. The enhanced performance in the industry is attributed to Administrative Support & services and Travel agents, Tour operators and related activities which increased by 7.4 and 5.1 percent respectively. The growth in the tour operators industry was driven by the increase of international and domestic passenger movements by 10.8 percent observed during the third quarter of 2023. Administrative Support and Services Activities comprises of Renting activities (renting and leasing of vehicles, renting of machinery and equipment, renting of personal and household goods etc.), Employment and Human Resource Activities, Private security and investigation activities, Cleaning and landscaping services, and Business support activities. The industry also includes Travel agency activities, Tour operator’s activities and Other Reservation Services.
Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities’ real value added increased by 6.1 percent in the third quarter of 2023 compared to a rise of 2.7 percent registered in the same quarter of the previous year. This includes Legal activities, Accounting, Bookkeeping & Auditing activities, and Management consultancy Activities, Architectural & engineering services, Research & experimental development, Advertising &
Marketing, specialized design and photographic activities and Veterinary activities.
The Education sector increased by 5.0 percent in real value added as opposed to a rise of 2.2 percent during the corresponding quarter of 2022. Education sector includes both public and private education activities e.g. pre-primary & primary education, General secondary education, Technical & vocational secondary education, Higher education etc.
The Information Communications and Technology (ICT) industry recorded a growth of 4.4 percent in real value added for the third quarter of 2023 compared to an increase of 6.8 percent registered in the corresponding quarter of 2022. This good performance was attributed to a rise in the Computer Programming & Information Service Activities which recorded 4.7 percent during the quarter under review, compared to a 4.1 percent registered in the same quarter of the previous year. The ICT industry comprises of publishing, Radio & Television Broadcasting, Telecommunications services and Computer Programming & Information Services Activities.
Accommodation and Food Services’ real value added rose by 4.4 percent in the third quarter of 2023 as opposed to an increase of 3.7 percent registered in the same quarter of the previous year. The improved performance is largely attributed to an increase of 3.8 percent in real value added of the Accommodation activities sub-industry.
The Other Services industry increased by 4.0 percent in real value added compared to a 2.0 percent registered during the corresponding quarter of 2022. Other services industry includes Arts, Entertainment & Recreation. Other Services activities like Dry cleaners, Hairdressing and Other Beauty Treatment, Funeral and Related Activities and Households as Employers of Domestic Personnel.
The Health sector rose by 3.4 percent in real value added compared to a 3.3 percent increase during the corresponding quarter of 2022. It Includes both public & private health and social work activities e.g. Hospital activities, medical & dental practice activities, and human health activities.
Finance, Insurance and Pension Funding registered a growth of 3.2 percent compared to 4.5 percent registered during the same quarter in 2022. The industry comprises of Central Banking activities, Monetary Intermediation & Financial Services, Insurance & Pension Funding and Financial & Insurance auxiliary services. Central Banking, Monetary Intermediation & Financial Services and Insurance & Pension Funding showed improved performance by recording 5.1, 3.4 and 3.2 percent respectively during the quarter under review.
Transport and Storage value added increased by 2.3 percent in the third quarter of 2023, compared to a 5.6 percent rise recorded in the same quarter of the previous year. The growth of the industry emanates from the favorable growth in real value added of Air Transport which increased by 10.8 percent during the quarter under review as a result of increased passenger movements.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing industry went up by 2.0 percent in real value added during the third quarter of 2023, relative to a decrease of 0.1 percent registered in the same quarter of 2022. The slight improvement is mainly due to an increase in real value added of Livestock farming by 2.4 percent. The increase in the total Agriculture industry was attributable to cattle marketed during the quarter under review. Cattle sold to Botswana Meat Commission and municipal abattoirs registered a positive growth of 30.1 percent.
The manufacturing industry experienced a slowed growth of 1.3 percent in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the rise of 7.6 percent registered in the corresponding quarter of 2022. Most of the sub-industries experienced a drop in growth when compared to the same period of the previous year. Diamond Sorting declined by 8.5 percent compared to a growth of 25.2 percent in the corresponding quarter of 2022, while Alcohol and Beverages grew by 12.2 percent as compared to a growth of 40.1percent in the corresponding quarter of 2022. Other sub-industries that experienced better growth compared to the previous corresponding quarter of last year include Meat Processing at 10.9percent, Other Foods at 4.9 percent and Print Media at 6.5 percent.