Botswana Eyes Spending Cuts as Diamond Slump Hits Economy

Botswana is intent on cutting spending to offset the effects of a prolonged downturn in the diamond market that’s led it to raise its budget deficit forecast to post-Covid peaks, its finance minister said.

“Something drastic” has to be done, Ndaba Gaolathe, who is also the southern African nation’s vice president, said in an interview in Washington. “The first thing we need to do obviously, is to live within our means. That means cutting spending. Cutting expenditure means doing away with what we believe is some of the fat.”

Botswana, the world’s largest diamond producer by value, relies on ...