Also known as: Vice President Mr Ndaba Gaolathe · Vice President · Mr Gaolathe · Acting President Ndaba Gaolathe · Acting President · Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe · Minister of Finance Ndaba Gaolathe · Mr Ndaba Gaolathe · Vice President and Minister of Finance Ndaba Gaolathe · Vice President Gaolathe · Mr. Gaolathe · the Vice President · Mr. Ndaba Gaolathe · Vice President and Minister of Finance Mr Ndaba Gaolathe · Minister Gaolathe · Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe
Vice President and Finance Minister of Botswana, advocating for economic diversification and warning that monetary policy alone cannot sustain the Pula currency amid diamond sector volatility.
After 30 years of transforming the Botswana’s response to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), tuberculosis and public health, the Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe, says Botswana and United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention’s (US CDC) next c …
… It is against this backdrop the Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe said Botswana-United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) partnership must evolve to address non-communicable diseases, emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resi …
Botswana’s fragile economic recovery cannot sustain an additional P4.1 billion in annual social spending without worsening the fiscal deficit and increasing public debt, Vice President and Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe cautioned. …
Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe, has called on investors to identify and support entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of their journey. …
Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe has urged stakeholders in Mmadinare to build business ideas around local resources, saying doing so could unlock major opportunities across the value chain and accelerate rural economic transformation. …
Vice President and Alliance for Progressives (AP) party leader, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe has assured Batswana that government decisions are guided by the welfare of citizens, saying no policy is taken with the intent to disadvantage the people. Speaking at the AP leadership retreat in …
… Speaking at the second meeting of BADEA’s Board of Directors in Gaborone, Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe said the funding came at a crucial time when the global economy was experiencing tight fiscal conditions. …
… To accelerate economic recovery and ease reliance on diamonds, the Vice President Mr Ndaba Gaolathe revealed during the Cabinet Economic Committee that one such reform was the undertaking of the national fund of funds initiative. …
Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe took center stage on June 29, 2026, at the Future of Mining Summit, a pivotal gathering for the global mining industry held in Botswana. …
Vice President and Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe warned that Botswana cannot indefinitely defend the Pula through monetary measures alone while the economy remains heavily reliant on diamonds, as a prolonged global diamond sector downturn has exposed long-recognised vulnerabilities in the country's economic model.
Vice President and Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe warned that Botswana cannot indefinitely defend the Pula through monetary measures alone while the economy remains heavily reliant on diamonds, as a prolonged global diamond sector downturn has exposed long-recognised vulnerabilities in the country's economic model.
Vice President and Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe warned that Botswana cannot indefinitely defend the Pula through monetary measures alone while the economy remains heavily reliant on diamonds. He said the prolonged downturn in the global diamond sector has exposed long-recognised vulnerabilities and that monetary policy alone cannot provide a permanent shield for the currency.
At a Capital Markets and Institutional Investors Roundtable in Botswana, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote called on African nations and businesses to lead the continent's industrial development rather than rely on foreign investors, emphasizing that African capital must fund large-scale projects and that the continent must move away from exporting raw materials.
President Advocate Duma Boko's State Visit to Angola is expected to unlock opportunities for mutually beneficial economic and commercial cooperation and deepen ties between the two countries. The Presidents are expected to discuss programmes to strengthen trade and investment linkages in mining, energy, transport, food security, tourism and regional connectivity, and to witness the signing of a Bi-National Commission agreement.
President Boko called on African investors and entrepreneurs to directly fund growth through targeted investment channels, saying African business leaders must take charge of industrial transformation. He added that governments must create enabling environments for local investors to prosper.
Mophato Dance Theatre premiered CHABA, a four-day production at Gaborone City Council Town Hall, directed by Andrew Kola and Kalima Mipata. The production, attended by Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe, compresses 15 years of dance by Mophato while telling 60 years of Botswana's story from 1966 to present, celebrating the country's cultural heritage and its preservation and development.
Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe has asked Parliament to increase the ceiling on Botswana's government bond issuance programme from P55 billion to P85 billion, characterizing the move as a matter of financing flexibility rather than an intention to borrow the full amount.
As Botswana marks 50 years since establishing the Pula, Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe says the currency's future depends on building a broader, more productive and inclusive economy.
Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe said Botswana is working to diversify its economy and reduce vulnerability to global fluctuations by attracting private investment and developing new industries, while addressing climate change and biodiversity loss as critical financial risks that affect production costs, asset values and investment.
Mophane Primary School in Gaborone West has earned a national reputation as a top performer with a 96.5 per cent pass rate in 2025, drawing pupils from across Greater Gaborone and beyond; the school grapples with severe resource constraints including shortages of furniture and textbooks despite serving about 1,050 pupils across 35 classes.
International risk analysts warn that Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe's growing reliance on commercial banks to finance government's fiscal gap risks a spillover into the banking sector, potentially exposing lenders to losses and threatening financial stability if public finances deteriorate.
Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe told the Bank of Botswana's golden anniversary celebrations that the Pula's strength over the next 50 years will depend on a diversified, inclusive economy. He noted that Botswana introduced its own currency 10 years after independence and withdrew from the Rand Monetary Area, marking an act of monetary sovereignty.
Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe commended Debswana Diamond Company for its annual GM's Walk, saying it is making a tangible difference in communities in the company's zone of influence. This year's walk aimed to raise funds to address water shortages and improve water infrastructure in Letlhakane, with proceeds from last year enabling the Water Utilities Corporation to commission a reverse osmosis plant.
Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe rejected concerns about a debt crisis, stating that Botswana is not in debt distress and maintains one of the lowest debt-to-GDP ratios in Sub-Saharan Africa at about 29 percent of GDP in the 2025/26 fiscal year, a position more favorable than many regional neighbors.
Kanye will host a Pula Day commemoration on August 24 under the theme "Pula le Thebe: Shielding Wealth, Nurturing Inclusive Growth," marking fifty years since Botswana introduced its national currency on August 23, 1976, after withdrawing from the Rand Monetary Area in 1974.
Parliament passed the Financial Intelligence (Amendment) Bill and the Trust Property Control (Amendment) Bill to tighten Botswana's defences against money laundering and terrorist financing. The Financial Intelligence Bill amendments clarify the distinct roles of the National Coordinating Committee on Financial Intelligence and the National Coordination Office to eliminate overlap.
Minister of Health Dr Stephen Modise has urged Members of Parliament to scrutinise the proposed National Health Insurance Reform, calling it one of Botswana's most consequential initiatives aimed at achieving Universal Health Coverage through fundamental transformation of the health system. The reform is designed to deliver a more resilient, digitised and interoperable health system, with a proposed strategic national fund to allow government to purchase healthcare services more effectively and reduce reliance on donor funding.
Vice President Gaolathe addressed pupils at Maikano Junior Secondary School, encouraging them to start planning their futures from a young age. He reflected on his own journey from Standard One to becoming Vice President, sharing how he studied mathematics and economics in the United States and worked in finance, urging the pupils to dream bigger and achieve more than he has.
The Africa Development Bank's 2026 Botswana Country Focus Report highlights strengthening project preparation, domestic capital markets, public investment management, and private capital mobilisation as central to government reforms. Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe stressed the need for sharper emphasis on execution and institutional capacity to move viable projects toward financial growth and implementation.
The African Development Bank's 2026 Botswana Country Focus Report calls for stronger project preparation, deeper capital markets, and better public investment management. Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe said government is aligning with the ADB to deepen institutional capacity and mobilise capital for viable investments, emphasising the need for sharper execution to move projects from preparation to implementation.
Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe praised the 30-year partnership between Botswana and the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention for transforming the country's response to HIV, tuberculosis, and public health. Gaolathe noted that the partnership, which began in 1995, had guided evidence-based policy decisions and led to initiatives including the 2002 launch of Masa, a national programme of free antiretroviral treatment.
Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe told the US CDC-Botswana 30th Anniversary Science Summit that Botswana should be shaped by prevention, preparedness and science-driven delivery over the next 30 years, with focus on strengthening scientific capacity, reinforcing institutions and building a self-reliant economy through stronger disease surveillance, investment in health workers, and African capacity to research and manufacture diagnostics and vaccines.
Vice President and Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe cautioned in Parliament that Botswana's fragile economic recovery cannot sustain the Umbrella for Democratic Change's proposed P4.1 billion annual increase in social spending, which includes higher allowances for Ipelegeng workers, Village Development Committees, and tertiary students, plus extending old-age pensions to citizens aged 60 to 64, without worsening the fiscal deficit and increasing public debt.
Vice President and Minister of Finance Ndaba Gaolathe has urged investors to identify and back entrepreneurs at the earliest stages, describing angel investment as the critical bridge between founders and larger sources of finance. He called for stronger collaboration among government, banks, development finance institutions, universities, venture capital funds and the stock exchange to strengthen Botswana's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe has urged stakeholders in Mmadinare to build business ideas around local resources such as agricultural land, tourism attractions, and water resources, saying this could unlock opportunities and accelerate rural economic transformation. He called for collaboration between community members, local businesses, and government agencies to identify viable projects that add value locally rather than exporting raw materials.
The Korean Economic Institute of America has supported Botswana in a trade conflict, noting that Botswana faces a 37% US tariff on its diamond exports while imposing only 2.03% tariffs on US imports. The analysis, provided by a South Korean commercial lobby, characterizes the US tariff as part of an effort to drive bilateral trade deficits to zero.
Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe said government decisions are guided by citizen welfare and that without intervention, the currency would have lost value and the economy could have collapsed. He noted foreign reserves stand at around P50 billion and cited projections that reserves could fall to zero by June 2026 without action.
Government has backed a loan and grant agreement with the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa worth €110 million (P1.713 billion) to the Botswana Development Corporation to support industrial growth and employment, plus a €500,000 grant to Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources for agricultural research.
The government has developed reforms to stabilise the economy and reduce reliance on diamonds, including a national fund of funds initiative that will mobilise capital from government and local institutions to provide equity and venture debt to local businesses and emerging sectors like creative and digital industries.
Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe addressed the Future of Mining Summit in Botswana on June 29, 2026, presenting a roadmap that links resource development to industrial diversification and environmental stewardship, emphasizing that mining must extend beyond extraction to foster diversified economies and resilient communities.