GABORONE – Botswana Vice-President Mokgweetsi Masisi said the country’s emerging diamond cutting and polishing firms are struggling against constrained access to credit facilities, high production costs and a shortage of skilled workers.
Addressing delegates to an international diamond conference which started in Gaborone on Tuesday, Masisi said external influences, especially the development of ‘disruptive technologies’ such at those used in the production of synthetic diamonds, presented new threats to global consumer demand for precious minerals.
Masisi said he could not refer to synthetic products as ‘diamonds’ ‘because they are not’.
Although Botswana’s 20 diamond cutting and polishing firms had created up to 3 700 new jobs since 2014, they were under threat from market fundamentals, a situation which called for fresh creativity to ensure survival. In response, he said the government had come up with new strategies to help diamond cutting and polishing firms bridge the cash and skills gaps.
“Some of the recent initiatives aimed at improving access to credit and creating a pool of skills include availing of $125-million credit facility by Barclays Bank of Botswana with Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) providing guarantees, in partnership with Lazare Kaplan International (LKI), as well as the licensing of Diamond Academy of Botswana to provide training to the Diamond Industry,” Masisi said.
Further, he said diamond manufacturers and retailers should search for new strategies to survive the prevailing and emerging challenges.
Masisi challenged the industry to deal with the changing landscape of consumer demand saying of late, the market had witnessed rising prices of rough diamonds against declining prices of polished products.