The rate of growth of the Botswana economy slowed during 2019, as a result of contraction in the mining sector, particularly diamond mining. Real GDP growth was 3.0% in the twelve months to December 2019, compared to 4.5% recorded in 2018. Growth in the mining sector experienced a sharp decrease from 7.6% in 2018 to minus 3.9% in 2019. This is attributable to weakened global demand for rough diamonds due to the oversupply in the polishing and retailing industries, leading to lower mining production. Real growth in the non-mining private sector (NMPS) improved marginally to 4.2% y-o-y between Q3 and Q4 2019. NMPS growth excluding the wholesale sub-sector - which includes diamond trade - fell to 4.7% in Q4 2019, compared to 5.1% and 4.9% y-o-y growth in Q4 2018 and Q3 2019, respectively, indicating poor performance in several economic sectors during the year.