The Botswana Economy In the five decades since Independence, in 1966, Botswana’s economy has grown rapidly, from one of the poorest in the world to an upper-middle-income country with a per capita income of approximately seven thousand US dollars.
Central to this growth has been relatively strong institutions and governance, healthy fiscal position and external balance sheet, low public debt burden and the prudent management of mineral revenues. From the mid-eighties, persistent twin fiscal and  balance of payments surpluses led to rapid growth of foreign exchange reserves that, at their peak, were equivalent to almost three years of import cover.