The resumption of diamond exports has also led to surpluses in the current account of the balance of payments in recent months, so much so that the foreign exchange reserves are now increasing after months of consistent decline. As intimated earlier, the Bank of Botswana lent support to the domestic economic recovery by easing monetary policy.
To this end, the Bank Rate was reduced from 15.5 percent in December 2008 to the current level of 11 percent. It is important to emphasise that the Bank remains vigilant in monitoring inflation trends, to ensure that the medium term inflation objective of 3–6 percent is adhered to, despite some transient spikes in prices, which pushed inflation to 7 percent in September.