Gaborone: Botswana’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.3% in 2016, mainly due to an improvement in the nation’s diamond trade, the Bank of Botswana said last week.

An increase in wholesale activity by diamond companies operating in Botswana, such as De Beers’ Global Sightholder Sales (GSS) and state-owned Okavango Diamond Company, drove the nation’s economic growth, explained Keith Jefferis, managing director of local economic consultancy firm Econsult and a former deputy governor of the bank. De Beers’ 2016 rough sales — the vast majority of which came from GSS — jumped 37% to $5.6 billion, while Okavango’s sales leapt 80% to $546.5 million.

Overall growth in the non-mining sector, including trading of rough diamonds, was 5.5% for the year, the bank said. Meanwhile, the contraction in the nation’s mining output slowed to 3.7% from 19.6% in 2015.