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.
This is a list of historical African place names. The names on the left are linked to the corresponding subregion(s) from History of Africa.
The economy of Lesotho is based on agriculture, livestock, manufacturing, mining, and depends heavily on inflows of workers’ remittances and receipts from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). Lesotho is geographically surrounded by South Africa and is economically integrated with it as well. The majority of households subsist on farming. The formal sector employment consist of mainly female workers in the apparel sector. While male migrant laborers work primarily as miners in South Africa for 3 to 9 months and employment in the Government of Lesotho (GOL). Half of the country's population work in informal crop cultivation or animal husbandry.
The economy of Namibia has a modern market sector, which produces most of the country's wealth, and a traditional subsistence sector. Although the majority of the population engages in subsistence agriculture and herding, Namibia has more than 200,000 skilled workers and a considerable number of well-trained professionals and managerials.
Eswatini, officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and also known by its former official name Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its north, west, south, and southeast. At no more than 200 km (120 mi) north to south and 130 km (81 mi) east to west, Eswatini is one of the smallest countries in Africa; despite this, its climate and topography are diverse, ranging from a cool and mountainous highveld to a hot and dry lowveld.
The economy of Eswatini is fairly diversified. Agriculture, forestry and mining account for about 13 percent of Eswatini's GDP whereas manufacturing represent 37 percent of GDP. Services – with government services in the lead – constitute the other 50 percent of GDP.
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and the physical geography definition based on the physical characteristics of the land.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana.
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.
The British office of high commissioner for Southern Africa was responsible for governing British possessions in Southern Africa, latterly the protectorates of Basutoland, the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland, as well as for relations with autonomous governments in the area.
Lesotho–South Africa relations refers to the current and historical bilateral relations of South Africa and Lesotho. Lesotho, which is surrounded by South Africa, depends on South Africa for most of its economic affairs, and its foreign policy is often aligned with that of Pretoria. Both are member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, African Union, Southern African Customs Union and Southern African Development Community. Lesotho, along with Eswatini, have been described as satellite states of South Africa.
A customs territory is a geographic territory with uniform customs regulations and there are no internal customs or similar taxes within the territory. Customs territories may fall into several types:
Since the end of apartheid, foreign trade in South Africa has increased, following the lifting of several sanctions and boycotts which were imposed as a means of ending apartheid.
During the late 19th century and early 20th century, a number of South African and British political leaders advocated for a Greater South Africa. This irredentism can be regarded as an early form of Pan-Africanism, albeit strictly limited to White Africans of European ancestry.
In 2012, South Africa imposed anti-dumping duties on Brazilian imports of frozen poultry products. Brazil brought its case to the World Trade Organization, and South Africa chose to impose a general tariff on chicken imports, rather than anti-dumping duties against Brazilian importers.
Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini is the union government created by the constitution of Eswatini where the monarch holds supreme executive, legislative, and judicial powers. The Ngwenyama (lion) is a hereditary leader, rules the country, with the assistance of a council of ministers and a national legislature.
The Trade Agreement between Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a Free trade agreement signed by both parties in 2006 in Höfn, Iceland and entered into force on 1 May 2008. It involves 9 countries: 4 are members of EFTA and 5 are members of SACU. The goal of the agreement is to deepen the relations between parties, provide favorable conditions for trade, and encourage economic integration and social development in SACU member states with support from EFTA.
The Southern Africa Customs Union and Mozambique (SACUM) is a customs union and trading bloc comprising the countries Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique. Its predecessor is the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). SACUM was created after Mozambique entered into the Southern African Customs Union.
The following lists events that happened during 2020 in Southern Africa. The countries are those described in the United Nations geoscheme for Africa.
Lesotho [1] 
68,358,016 [4] 
59.0 [7] 
0.696
