Botswana I Ethopia I The Gambia I Ghana I Kenya I Malawi I Mauritius I Namibia I Nigeria I Senegal I South Africa I Swaziland I Tanzania I Togo I Uganda I Zambia I Zimbabwe After four decades of uninterrupted civilian leadership, progressive social policies and significant capital investment, Botswana is one of the most dynamic economies in Africa and in 2005 attained a per capita GDP of more than $10,000 – making it a middle-income country – when GDP rose 4.5%. The strong economy has clearly benefited the country’s banks but necessarily some have benefited more than others.
Although not the largest of the big three in Botswana ( the others being Barclays Bank and First National), Standard Chartered is growing rapidly. While Barclays Bank suffered a 6% fall in assets and an 11% reduction in income and profit, Standard Chartered enjoyed a 31.8% growth in assets and a 34.6% growth in net income, driven by strong growth in consumer assets, which increased 22%. Costs growth was contained to just 5.2% as a result of investments in improving the efficiency of the business and the cost-income ratio fell 6.2% to 41% from 47%.