At Access Bank Botswana’s“The Exchange: Making the Most of Your Pula” event held this week at The Hilton in Gaborone, presenters and panellists emphasised the value of treating Botswana’s current economic climate as an opportunity to make better choices about financial wellbeing.
In his opening remarks, Access Bank Botswana Managing Director Sheperd Aisam discussed the role of financiers in helping clients understand and navigate the economic turbulence in the market following the change of the Pula Exchange Rate Framework.
“The July exchange rate adjustments, including the widening of trading margins and the increase in the crawl rate, have reshaped our currency landscape. These are technical terms, yes, but they affect real things: what we pay for imports, how businesses plan, and how far our Pula takes us at home,” said Aisam.
“For households, it means thinking twice before spending. For the ordinary Motswana, it simply means trying to make every Pula go a little further than before, and this is what the Global Markets team will be expounding on today.”
Delivering the keynote address, Director of the Research and Financial Stability Department at Bank of Botswana, Matlhodi Serero, mentioned how the recent exchange rate adjustments are a justified strategic response to create economic resilience and stability.
Serero further explained that the exchange rate adjustments are a “necessary evil” to promote the growth and diversification of Botswana’s economy, ahead of the next Exchange Rate Review in December 2025.
The Impact of the Exchange Rate Adjustment on Batswana & Businesses
In a panel discussion moderated by Bonolo Phaladze, the Head of Treasury Sales at Access Bank, the panellists gave insight into how the recent exchange rate adjustments have affected business and investment opportunities in various industries. The panel consisted of Reza Samdjee (CFO, Orange Botswana), Anil Kumar (CFO, Motovac Group), Ian Modubule (Acting CFO, Debswana) and Nlume Modise (Co-founder, Fifth Quarter Investment Managers).
Samdjee described a “double negative impact” brought on by the FX adjustments. He gave an example of the difficulty in reducing data prices for the consumer, which in turn has an impact on local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that rely on Orange Botswana’s services in their day-to-day business.
He also cited the cost of imports related to the company’s infrastructure and the difficulty in filling the gaps using local infrastructure. Kumar similarly emphasised the economic pressure that has come with the increase in costs and pricing and the negative impact that has had on the average consumer, including erosion of purchasing power.
Nlume mentioned the potential for investment opportunities in the near future and advised that consumers, especially those approaching retirement age, should be smart with money and pursue investments.
Asked if there currently is better value for money than there was before the policy change Modubule noted that there is no value at this moment as the banking sector continues to struggle with liquidity. However, he stated that there is value in terms of how the economy has responded to the policy change, as banks are now becoming more competitive and offering better interest rates.
On the topic of striking a balance between the need to sustain export earnings and supporting local procurement and infrastructure development, Modubule highlighted that Debswana, being a local entity in itself, recognises that it is in its best interest to utilise local service providers to improve them and help circulate money in the economy. However, he warned local service providers not to become too dependent on Debswana.