• Botswana GDP up 4.1 per cent in first quarter of this year
• Botswana hotel company raises $7.8 million in IPO
• Botswana sees growth in 2010/11

• Botswana: First people in the nation learn Transcendental Meditation

• Botswana court denies Kalahari Bushmen water rights
• Botswana gives Bushmen tough conditions

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Positive Trends
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Botswana GDP up 4.1 per cent in first quarter of this year
30 June 2010 - Botswana's gross domestic product increased by 4.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2010, driven by higher output from the key mining sector, Central Statistics Office (CSO) data showed. 'Output in the first quarter was 36.4 per cent higher than the same period the previous year, mainly due to increased production by the diamond mines, which were temporarily closed in early 2009,' the statement said. (more)

Botswana hotel company raises $7.8 million in IPO
24 June 2010 - Botswana's largest hotel operator, Cresta Markanelo Ltd, will list on the country's stock exchange on 28 June, after raising $7.8 million in a relatively big initial public offering for the small African nation. Founded in 1974, Cresta Marakanelo operates 8 hotels and 724 beds in the diamond-rich southern African country. Botswana, the world's No. 1 diamond producer, has maintained one of the highest economic growth rates globally since its independence in 1966. (more)

Botswana sees growth in 2010/11
8 February 2010 - Botswana's economy should return to growth in the financial year to June 2011, Finance Minister Kenneth Matambo said on Monday. Botswana is the world's biggest diamond producer, and Matambo said a gradual recovery in world diamond sales would help support the economy. Mr Matambo said the economy was predicted to expand by 5 per cent in 2010/11 after zero growth this year -- better than some previous forecasts of a sharp decline. (more)

Botswana 2010 business confidence up
5 January 2010 - Botswana's overall business confidence has increased for 2010 on the back of a global economic recovery, the Bank of Botswana said in a poll released on Tuesday. 'The satisfaction with current business conditions has risen to 47 percent, and this is maintained for the first half of 2010. For 2010 as a whole, confidence rises to 59 percent,' the bank said in a statement. (more)

Former President of Botswana gets leadership prize
20 October 2008 - The former President of Botswana has received a more than US$5 million prize that recognizes good governance in Africa. Festus Gontebanye Mogae, who led Botswana from 1998 to 2008, was chosen Monday as the winner of the 2008 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. Mogae has been praised for his leadership on health and economic issues. (more)

Botswana: Success story to continue under new leader
30 March 2008 - Vice President Seretse Khama Ian Khama takes over the leadership of Botswana this week and is expected to stay on an economic and political course that has made the country one of Africa's rare success stories. President Festus Mogae will retire after nearly a decade in power. Khama will inherit one of the best performing economies in southern Africa. Botswana is ranked the continent's least corrupt country by Transparency International. (more)

Growth in Botswana up
4 February 2008 - Botswana's economy expanded by 6.2 per cent in the fiscal year to June 2007, Finance Minister Baledzi Gaolathe said on Monday. The diamond-rich southern African country has enjoyed average growth of around 8 per cent over the last two decades and government was targeting 5 per cent expansion a year over the next three years. It has the highest sovereign ratings in Africa. (more)

Botswana: New port of entry to boost tourism
15 October 2007 - President of Botswana, Festus Mogae, hosted his counterparts from South Africa and Namibia at the opening of a new border crossing to allow for easier movement between the three countries. The Mata-Mata Tourist Access Facility border crossing is situated where the borders of western Botswana, northern South Africa, and eastern Namibia lead to the the giant transfrontier wildlife park of Kgalagadi (formerly Kalahari). (more)

Botswana stock index adds to strong gains
18 July 2007 - Domestic share prices on Botswana's stock exchange continued to rise last week, official data showed on Wednesday, bringing gains this year to almost 60 per cent. (more)

Botswana successor seen maintaining winning strategy
18 July 2007 - The man set to succeed Festus Mogae as President of diamond-rich Botswana is unlikely to change economic policy or political course in a country hailed as a rare African success story, analysts said. With growth rates averaging at least 8 per cent over the last two decades, Botswana has been Africa's best performing economy, and analysts expect that trend to continue. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Botswana: First people in the nation learn Transcendental Meditation
17 March 2009 - Botswana has taken a step toward national invincibility with the first people in the nation learning the Transcendental Meditation Programme, and interest in the technique growing. (more)

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Flops
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Botswana court denies Kalahari Bushmen water rights
21 July 2010 - A court in Botswana ruled Wednesday that indigenous dwellers in one of the driest parts of the world will not be allowed to drill wells for water. The Botswana High Court said the Bushmen people were not entitled to use a well already established on their traditional land in the Kalahari Game Reserve or excavate a new one. 'In the last ten years, Botswana has become one of the harshest places in the world for indigenous peoples. If Bushmen are to be denied water on their lands when it is freely provided it for tourists, animals, and diamond mines, then foreigners should be asked if they really want to support this regime with their visits and jewelry shopping,' said Survival International director Stephen Corry in a statement. The Bushmen said the government first sealed a well used by them in in 2002 to drive them off their land to make way for tourism and mining. (more)

Botswana gives Bushmen tough conditions
15 December 2006 - Botswana's government Thursday accepted a court order to allow the Bushmen, the nation's last hunter-gatherers, to live on their ancestral lands. But at the same time, officials imposed tough conditions likely to prevent most or all from returning. (more)