Abstract
M.B.A.
Straddling the tropic of Capricorn, land-locked Botswana spans a vast 581,730 square
kilometres in area. The country shares borders with Namibia to the north and west, Zambia and Zimbabwe to the north-east, and South Africa to the east and south.
The Botswana Central Statistics Office (CSO) estimate a 2001 population of 1,68 million
with an annual growth rate of 2.4% (Annual Economic Report, (2003)). The population is
concentrated mainly in the fertile eastern and southern one third of the country. The
remaining two thirds of the country's land is covered with the thick sands of the Kgalagadi
Desert. Rainfall in the country is sporadic and erratic.
According to the 2001 National Census the urban population of the country stands at 52.1% with the capital Gaborone accounting for 10.1% of the country's population. Francistown, the second and only other city, accounts for 4.9% of the country's population. The remainder of the urban population is distributed among 14 smaller urban centres. Gaborone accounts for 26.9% of the country's population between the ages of 25 and 54 years (Annual Economic Report, 2003.)
1.1.2. Communication
The communication network is fairly sophisticated with 19.4% of the county's roads paved.
The telephone network is fully digital, with Internet, e-mail, fax facilities available in all
major centres of the country. Telex, data-switching, satellite-link and voice-mail service are
also available nationwide. There are two cellular phone service provides and eleven internet service providers (ISPs). There are 27 Batswana to a telephone. (See Table 1: Botswana Social Statistics 2001
Table 1: Botswana Social Statistics: 2001
Life Expectancy 65.2
Population per Physician 3448
Persons per telephone 27
Persons per radio 95
Daily Newspapers 1
Persons per vehicle 21
Paved roads % 19.4
Primary School numbers 330,767
Tertiary education numbers 128,744
Literacy rate % 70
(Source: Annual Economic Report: 2003)
1.1.3. Economic performance
Domestic output, as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is estimated to have
grown, in nominal terms from P16.54 billion (SAR 25,47 billion) in 2000/2001 to P16.91
billion (SAR 26,04 billion) in 2001/2002, representing an increase of 2.3%. The increase for
the previous year had been 17.2% (Annual Economic Report 2003)
A slump in mining, with a growth rate of 3.1% (17.2% the previous year) was the major
contributor to the slow growth. Banks, Insurance and Business services also shared
significant growth among the non-mining sectors of the economy. (See Table 2: Economic
Structure).