Botswana Government Maintains Pula Basket Weights for 2023
The government of Botswana has announced that it will maintain the current weights of its Pula basket of currencies for 2023. The Pula basket consists of the South African rand and the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR), a unit made up of several major world currencies including the US dollar, Japanese yen, Chinese renminbi, euro, and British pound. The weights of the basket will be kept at 45% South African rand and 55% SDR, reflecting the country’s major trading patterns with its partner countries.
In addition to maintaining the basket weights, the government will also adopt a downward rate of crawl, or slow depreciation, of 1.51% per year for 2023. This decision was made in view of the projected favorable inflation differentials for Botswana and to promote the competitiveness of Botswana-produced goods both domestically and internationally.
These changes, which are set to take effect on January 1, 2023, were approved by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Botswana, Dr. Mokgweetsi E.K. Masisi, following a review of the Pula basket by the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Botswana. The review is conducted regularly with the aim of maintaining a stable and competitive real effective exchange rate for the Pula.
Overall, these changes are expected to help ensure the stability and competitiveness of the Pula in the coming year.
Maverick Kabelo is the founder and editorial director of Africa’s Very Own Magazine. Kabelo is a business student, digital media enthusiast/entrepreneur, creative, writer and content creator. He started writing when he was just 16 after founding the magazine on Facebook.
