Historical Sketch

In the 1820, the Tswana territories came under pressure from the European settlers in South Africa. The Boer expansion drove the Tswana westward, and in 1885 Great Britain annexed what was left. The territory was partitioned, everything north of the Molopo River was constituted as Bechuanaland Protectorate, while the southern lands were annexed to the Cape Colony. In 1966, Bechuanaland attained independence as Republic of Botswana.

Monetary History Overview

During British rule, the Bechuanaland protectorate adopted the currency of the Cape Colony and later of South Africa. The respective currency laws were proclaimed locally, last time in late 1960, when the currency got decimalized by adopting the South African Rand. Botswana's independence in 1966 did not change the monetary order, the Rand was kept instead of introducing a national currency immediately. In December 1974, South Africa and the three countries using the Rand, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, signed an agreement to create a monetary union, the Rand Monetary Area. Botswana did not ratify the union and created its own central bank in July 1975. In the following year, the Botswanan Pula became the new national currency. The Pula re-pegged from the Rand to the US Dollar in December 1976, and in 1980 the exchange rate was floated. Initially, it appreciated against the Rand by about 25%, but has more or less followed the development of the South African currency since then.

Botswana joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 24.07.1968.

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