\n Botswana plans to raise corporate and personal income taxes to cushion the impact of falling diamond revenues and narrow a widening budget deficit, according to proposals submitted to parliament this week.\n <\/p>\n
\n The finance ministry has proposed increasing the corporate tax rate by 2.5 percentage points to 24.5%, while the top personal income tax rate would also rise by the same margin to 27.5%.\n <\/p>\n
\n Budget figures released on Tuesday project a deficit equivalent to 8.9% of gross domestic product, more than double the 4% ceiling set out in the country\u2019s fiscal rules, Bloomberg reported.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cEvery nation needs adequate revenue to provide services effectively, and everyone has a responsibility to contribute their fair share,\u201d Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe said. \u201cTaxation is a not form of punishment. It is a collective investment in our shared development.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
Synthetic gems weigh on demand<\/p>\n
\n Botswana, once the world\u2019s largest diamond producer by value, has been hit by a slump in global demand since 2023, driven in part by the rising popularity of synthetic stones.\n <\/p>\n
\n As pressure on the sector mounts, the government has been seeking preferential access to its largest market, the United States, to support diamond exports.\n <\/p>\n
\n Botswana is also expanding its economic and diplomatic engagement with Russia as negotiations with the United States over potential relief from diamond tariffs continue.\n <\/p>\n
\n Currently, diamonds mined, cut, and polished in Botswana face a 15% U.S. import tariff, while rough stones are subject to a 37% duty. Diamonds mined domestically but cut and polished in third countries, such as India, can attract tariffs of up to 50%.\n <\/p>\n
\n At its peak, uncut diamonds accounted for about a third of government revenue and generated the bulk of Botswana\u2019s foreign exchange earnings.\n <\/p>\n
\n Debswana Diamond Co., Botswana\u2019s biggest diamond producer, has cut output and reduced costs amid the slump and does not expect a near-term recovery.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cFor 2026, we still expect the market to remain pretty tight,\u201d Debswana Chief Executive Officer Andrew Maatla Motsomi said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Mineral revenues are expected to account for about 16% of government income in the next fiscal year, while non-mineral income taxes and value-added tax are projected to contribute 45%, the finance minister said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Parliament is expected to debate the proposed tax bills during the current legislative session.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Botswana plans to raise corporate and personal income taxes to cushion the impact of falling diamond revenues and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,184,85,46],"class_list":["post-284532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}