Botswana represents one of the fewdevelopment success stories in Sub-Saharan Africa. RealGross Domestic Product (GDP) growth averaged almost 9percent between 1960 and 2005, far above the Sub-SaharanAfrica average. Real GDP per capita grew even faster,averaging more than 10 percent a year -- the most rapideconomic growth of any country in the world. The crucialquestion is: Why has Botswana grown the way it has done, andwhat lessons does it offer? This evidence-based story is anaccount of policy and institutional dynamics of sustainedgrowth and development in Botswana -- illuminating the role ofleadership. It shows how a secure political elite haspursued growth-promoting policies and developed, modified,and maintained viable inherited traditional and moderninstitutions of political, economic, and legal restraint.These institutions have remained robust in the face ofinitial large aid inflows and spectacular mineral rents,producing a growth pattern that has been both rapid andcautious. The nature of the Botswana developmental state isillustrated by the way in which the state mobilizeddevelopment resources-especially savings, investment, andhuman resources, widely known as the primary drivers ofeconomic growth, and prudently managed the economy withoutbecoming excessively involved in the nuts. It demonstratesthat through intentional policy choices and countercyclicalinstruments, countries can shift from aid-dependent totrade-led natural resource development (though probably withnarrow-based growth), to a broader development strategy aslong as the state is capable and operates within effectiveinstitutional design. Botswana's story is sterlingexample of how the critical issue in development is not somuch access to resources but how resources are managed.
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