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S&P Maintains Negative Outlook for Botswana
Oct 31, 2016 11:31 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Standard & Poor’s affirmed Botswana's credit rating and
gave the country a negative outlook, reflecting the risks
over the next 12 to 18 months if the current diamond-sector slump
proves more structural than cyclical in nature.
The agency said it maintained its 'A-/A-2' long and
short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings for the country.
Even so, S&P forecast diamond prices will recover
gradually in the medium term. It predicted 3 percent economic growth in real
terms in 2016, taking into account the Botswana government's Economic Stimulus
Programme, which will boost spending mainly on water works and electricity to
redress these constraints on growth.
The announcement comes as Botswana’s rough diamond exports
have registered successive declines, with outbound shipments dropping
1.8 percent in the first half of 2015 and falling
5 percent in August.
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Tags:
Botswana, Credit rating, mining, Rapaport News, Rough Diamonds, rough prices, S&P, standard & poor's
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