| Keith Jefferis | ||||||
The senior Botswanan banker who told Euromoney last year that he didn't care what rating Botswana got, as long as it was better than South Africa's, has finally got his wish.
Botswana has received a single A from Moody's Investors Service - the country's first credit rating. This puts it four notches above South Africa's Baa3. In fact, Botswana now has the highest credit rating on the African continent.
But it's not just the African states such as South Africa, Tunisia (Baa1) and Egypt (Ba1) that are lagging behind the diamond-flush state. Korea (Baa2), Poland (Baa1) and a whole host of other higher-profile destinations for foreign investors' funds are eating Botswanan dust. "Obviously in a global context Botswana is a small country. And we are in a part of the world that is better known for its problems than for its successes," says Keith Jefferis, deputy governor of Bank of Botswana, the central bank.