GABORONE, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Largely due to the economic confusion caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Botswana's foreign direct investment (FDI) is expected to register a 40 percent drop this year, an official said Friday.

Keletsositse Olebile, the CEO of the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), made this revelation when addressing journalists after touring some foreign-owned companies in Francistown, Botswana's second largest city.

"COVID-19 has ravaged economies of many countries across the globe. In turn this will affect Botswana's FDI prospects with estimates projecting that our FDI will drop by 40 percent," said Olebile.

Botswana relies heavily on international markets for diamond sales. Diamonds are the mainstay of Botswana's economy, as they account for the 71 percent of the southern African country's revenue derived from exports.

"COVID-19 has badly affected the global economy thereby affecting the investment agency's prospects of attracting FDI in 2020," said Olebile.

Sennye Obuseng, an independent economist told Xinhua in a telephone interview that it was imminent that FDI will decline due to the dangers posed by COVID-19 to the global economy that trades with Botswana.

"A decline in foreign was inevitable. International flights got grounded as early as February if not March. So how investors were expected to trot the globe in search for opportunities to invest on? The writing was on the wall," he said. Enditem

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