ABSTRACT
During the first twenty-five years after the country became independent in 1966, Botswana was the worlds fastest growing economy.1 GNP per capita grew at an average annual rate of 8.4 per cent from 1965 to 1990; the second fastest growing economy by this measure was South Korea at 7.1 per cent, while Sub-Saharan Africa’s per capita income barely grew at all (average annual growth was 0.2 per cent). It would be difficult, therefore, to sustain an argument that economic growth in Botswana was constrained by apartheid in South Africa. Indeed, the era of rapid economic growth in Botswana ended at about the same time as the end of apartheid, as shown in Table 11.1, but it would be equally difficult to argue that the ending of apartheid was bad for Botswana’s economic prospects. Economic growth slowed right down for a number of other reasons, which had nothing to do with events in South Africa. Diamond revenues reached a plateau after many years of dramatic growth; a construction boom came to a sudden halt; and a large depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar reversed the growth of non-traditional exports. These events happened to coincide with each other and with the beginning of the political transition in South Africa.
