Minister of Finance Peggy Serame has announced government measures that will help to cushion households from the impact of the current challenging economic situation. The announcement comes after Botswana’s inflation skyrocketed to 12.7 percent.
She announced that Value-Added Tax (VAT) will be reduced from 14 percent to 12 percent. The reduction in the VAT rate will last for six months beginning in August, and overall initiatives to help households deal with price increases are anticipated to cost the government roughly 1.8 billion pula.
Additionally, she stated that the allowances for university students attending public institutions will increase by 18.5 percent (from 1640 pula to 1940 pula), with the prices of cooking gas and oil becoming zero-rated for VAT during the same time frame. Additionally, the government will provide 120 million pula to the government-run Botswana Meat Commission in order to help farmers.
