Our African producer partners – South Africa, Botswana and Namibia – all consider wealth creation and distribution, the reduction of poverty, employment generation, the building of a knowledge and skills-based economy and the development of value-adding activities, as national priorities.

GDP and export earnings
Diamond mining is the biggest single industry in both Botswana and in Namibia. In Botswana, diamond mining consistently accounts for around 30% of GDP and around 80% of export earnings.

In Namibia, diamond earnings have recently shown a strong recovery after weakening considerably in the early 1990s. Over the past 15 years, diamonds have contributed around 8% of GDP and 40% of foreign exchange earnings, although future production is forecast to fall due to declining land based operations.

Botswana and Namibia contribute about 21% and 6% respectively to global rough diamond production.

While by no means the primary contributor to GDP, export earnings or employment in South Africa, diamond mining contributes about 1% of GDP and less than 1% of export earnings.

South Africa, which has a large and diverse economy, accounts for close to 10% of global rough diamond production by value. The R7.8 billion (US$1.1 billion) industry employs some 14 500 people and also contributes through taxes, payments to suppliers and the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Taxes and revenues
Debswana and Namdeb are the largest taxpayers in Botswana and Namibia respectively. Their predictable and reliable contributions to government revenues help ensure macro-economic stability and underwrite government capacity to deliver on long term development programmes.

The Government of the Republic of Botswana consistently derives around 50% of its revenues from diamonds. This includes dividend income from its 15% shareholding in De Beers. In Namibia, government revenue from diamonds averaged around 8% over the past 10 years.

Both Botswana and Namibia spend up to half of their total revenue on public services including health, education and housing.

Investments in national defence, law and order and public infrastructure make up the remaining non-social expenditures.  Revenues are also spent on public administration and public debt interest payments.

The reliability of diamond mining as a revenue stream for governments in Namibia and Botswana is due in part to the sound management of our operations and distribution activities.

It is also due to efforts by De Beers to maintain consumer confidence and drive demand for diamonds in key markets around the world. We call this “diamond equity”.