Yearbook 2010
Botswana's long-standing economic success slowed down in
the wake of the international financial crisis. The year
before, the country's diamond production had been halved due
to reduced demand. Botswana's diamonds normally account for
half of the state's revenue and a fifth of the world's
diamond production. Botswana's second largest source of
income, tourism, was also severely affected.
According to
COUNTRYAAH, Botswana
has a population of 2.254 million (2018). The country's credit rating was downgraded at the
beginning of the year, since the government had a budget
deficit for two consecutive years and for 2010 calculated a
deficit of more than 12 percent of GDP. With an unemployment
rate of about 20 percent, the government spent a large part
of the budget on the expansion of the electricity and water
grid. It was considered necessary for the private sector to
grow and create more jobs in a more multi-faceted economy,
not so dependent on diamonds.
In June, four MPs broke out of the ruling party, the
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), and formed the opposition
Botswana Democracy Movement (BMD). According to the
outbreak, democracy, the rule of law and human rights
weakened rapidly as a result of BDP and President Ian
Khama's power monopoly. They claimed that there was no room
for criticism or dissenting opinions in Khama's party. The
new party hoped for more defectors to enable a distrust vote
against President Khama. In the 2009 election, Khama's party
received 45 seats against the opposition's ten.
During the year, a study was conducted on 700
HIV-positive women in Botswana, which showed that brake
medications almost wiped out the risk of HIV infection
between mother and child. Without medication, the risk was
that infants would be infected during pregnancy or through
breastfeeding one in four, but with brake medication the
risk was radically reduced. This means that HIV-infected
women do not need to choose breast milk replacement instead
of breastfeeding. Every fourth person between the ages of 14
and 49 in Botswana is HIV-infected.
In July, the Kalahari Desert San people lost a court
dispute after requesting re-use of a water hole where
diamond drilling was conducted. The borehole was closed in
2002, when the government began to evict the approximately
4,000 bushmen from the reserve. According to the lawyer of
the san people, the rash makes their traditional way of life
impossible. The judge's decision was appealed.
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