Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, formerly known as Bechuanaland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 per cent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, Zambia to the north and Zimbabwe to the northeast. With a population of slightly over 2.4 million people and a comparable land area to France, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. It is essentially the nation-state of the Tswana people, who constitute nearly 80 per cent of the population.
The economy of Botswana is currently one of the world's fastest growing economies, averaging about 5% per annum over the past decade. Growth in private sector employment averaged about 10% per annum during the first 30 years of the country's independence. After a period of stagnation at the turn of the 21st century, Botswana's economy registered strong levels of growth, with GDP growth exceeding 6–7% targets. Botswana has been praised by the African Development Bank for sustaining one of the world's longest economic booms. Economic growth since the late 1960s has been on par with some of Asia's largest economies. The government has consistently maintained budget surpluses and has extensive foreign-exchange reserves.
Gaborone is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 534,842 inhabitants at the 2022 census.
The president of the Republic of Botswana is the head of state and the head of government of Botswana, as well as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, according to the Constitution of Botswana. Sir Seretse Khama was the prime minister from 1965 to 1966, however he later became president of Botswana, and as of 2024 there have been no prime ministers since.
Festus Gontebanye Mogae is a Botswana politician and economist who served as the third President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008. He succeeded Quett Masire as President in 1998 and was re-elected in October 2004; after ten years in office. He stepped down in 2008 and was succeeded by Lieutenant General Seretse Khama Ian Khama.
The pula is the currency of Botswana. It has the ISO 4217 code BWP and is subdivided into 100 thebe. Pula literally means "rain" in Setswana, because rain is very scarce in Botswana—home to much of the Kalahari Desert—and therefore valuable and a blessing. The word also serves as the national motto of the country.
The Bank of Sierra Leone is the central bank of Sierra Leone. It issues the country's currency, known as the Leone. The bank formulates and implements monetary policy, including foreign exchange.
The Parliament of Botswana consists of the President and the National Assembly. In contrast to other parliamentary systems, the Parliament elects the President directly for a set five-year term of office. A president can only serve 2 full terms. The President is both Head of state and of government in Botswana's parliamentary republican system. Parliament of Botswana is the supreme legislative authority. The President of Botswana is Mokgweetsi Masisi, who assumed the Presidency on 1 April 2018. In October 2019, the 2019 general election was held which saw the return of the Botswana Democratic Party to the power with a majority of 19 seats in the 65 seat National Assembly.
The Common Monetary Area (CMA) links South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini into a monetary union. The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) includes all CMA members in addition to Botswana, which replaced the rand with the pula in 1976 as a means of establishing an independent monetary policy. The CMA facilitates trade and promotes economic development between its member states.
Gaborone United Sporting Club (GU) is a football club from Botswana based in Gaborone. It is the only professional sporting club in Botswana. Its official sponsor is Bank Gaborone, who signed a three-year deal at the beginning of the 2022–23 season. Gaborone United play their home games at several venues.
The Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador is the central bank of El Salvador, which controls the currency rate and regulates certain economic activities within El Salvador. The bank was originally privately owned, but was brought under state control through The Law on the Reorganization of Central Banking.
In macroeconomics, crawling peg is an exchange rate regime that allows currency depreciation or appreciation to happen gradually. It is usually seen as a part of a fixed exchange rate regime.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Botswana:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Zimbabwe:
The Zimbabwean dollar was the name of four official currencies of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 12 April 2009. During this time, it was subject to periods of extreme inflation, followed by a period of hyperinflation.
Linah Kelebogile Mohohlo was a Botswana banker and university chancellor. She was the first female Governor of the Bank of Botswana from 1999 to 2016. She was also the first female Chancellor of the University of Botswana, serving from 2017 to 2021.
Botswana - People's Republic of China relations refers to the current and historical relationship between the Botswana and the People's Republic of China. Relations were first established on 6 January 1975. In 2010, upon the 35th anniversary of relations being formalized, the relationship between the two states was considered "strong" and "rapidly growing" by then Chinese ambassador to Botswana, Liu Huanxing. Botswana follows the One China Policy which means Botswana does not have relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan). Following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China, the Botswana government donated one million pula.
Botswana continued to address the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, beginning its vaccination process through the importation of vaccines. On November 11, Botswana was the location of the first documented case of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. 2021 also saw the discovery of two diamonds in Botswana that exceeded 1000 carats, becoming the third and fourth largest diamonds ever discovered. In relations with its neighbouring countries, Botswana continued to address violence at the Botswana–Namibia border, and it entered into the conflict in Cabo Delgado in support of the government of Mozambique.
The Pula Fund is the sovereign wealth fund of Botswana. As of October 2023, the fund has US$4.1 billion in assets under management.
The following lists events that happened during the 1970s in Botswana.
