Botswana now expects economic growth of 9.7 percent in 2021, compared with the 8.8 percent forecast in February, helped by higher diamond sales and a recent rebasing of Gross 0omestic Product (GDP) accounts.

The country’s Finance Minister Peggy Serame disclosed this in an interview with Reuters on Monday.

She added the 2021 budget deficit was expected to widen to 3.9 percent from the 2.8 percent seen in February.

In July, Botswana revised its real GDP accounts base year to 2016 from 2006, seeking to improve the accuracy of its measurement of economic growth.

Due to the rebasing, last year’s economic contraction is now much deeper – at 8.5 percent – rather than the 7.9 percent originally reported, while nominal GDP is now 4.6per cent lower at 172,552 million pula ($15.5 billion).

“The larger than forecast contraction in 2020 is, however, expected to be offset by an improvement in growth in 2021 which has now been revised upwards to 9.7 percent growth for the year,” Serame said in response to emailed questions.

She said the upward revision was due to a combination of technical changes resulting from the rebasing of GDP by Statistics Botswana in July 2021, alongside the strong performance of the diamond sector in the first half of 2021.

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After falling by 30 percent in 2020, sales of rough diamonds by Debswana Diamond Company, a joint venture between the government and Anglo American’s (AAL.L) De Beers, jumped 41 percent in the first half of 2021, fuelled by demand from major markets the United States and China.

Serame said the government was in advanced talks for a $130 million budget support loan from the African Development Bank, part of plans to tap external and domestic borrowing sources to help fund its budget deficit.