Botswana has been praised by the African Development Bank for sustaining one of the world's longest economic booms.

It has the fourth highest gross national income per capita in purchasing power in Africa and above the world average.

[26][27] Although Botswana's economy is considered a model for countries in the region, its overreliance on mining and its high rate of HIV/AIDS infection (one in every three adults is seropositive) and unemployment may threaten its future success.

[28][29] Botswana has become the first high-burden country to be certified for achieving an important milestone on the path to eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV by the World Health Organization (WHO).

[35] Botswana is crossed by the trans-African automobile route - the Cairo-Cape Town Highway and the Trans-Kalahari Corridor.

Botswana is part of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) with South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Namibia.

[38] Due to Botswana's heavy reliance on diamonds, strong global demand is vital to the health of the economy.

[50] In 2003, Debswana opened the Damtshaa diamond mine about 220 kilometers (140 mi) west of the city of Francistown.

The mine was placed into care and maintenance in December 2015 due to weak global demand but was scheduled to reopen in January 2018.

According to the company, "the mine’s development will meet the demands of 600MW power stations and export region coal markets, with the potential to employ more than 2,000 people.

"[58][59] Botswana also produces soda ash through Botash, a joint venture between the government and South Africa's Chlor-Alkali Holdings (CAH) Group.

[23] The country offers game viewing and birding both in the Delta and in the Chobe National Park—home to one of the largest herds of free-ranging elephants in the world.

[23] A number of national parks and game reserves, with their abundant wildlife and wetlands, are major tourist attractions.

[63] The main safari destinations for tourism are Moremi Game Reserve[64] in the Okavango Delta, and Chobe National Park.

Botswana is also participating in community-based natural resource management projects by trying to involve villagers in tourism.

Tourism has been stimulated by the series of detective novels by Alexander McCall Smith and the American dramatisation that followed them.

[67] More than half of Botswana's population lives in rural areas and depends on subsistence crops and livestock farming.

[23] Agriculture meets only a small portion of food needs and contributes just 1.8% of Botswana's GDP as of 2017, according to the CIA World Factbook.

[23] Foreign investment and management are welcomed in Botswana[23] and, as a result, the financial and services sectors have increased at an exponential rate in the 2000s to replace mining as the leading industry.

[47] Botswana abolished foreign exchange controls in 1999, has a low corporate tax rate (15%), no prohibitions on foreign ownership of companies, and as of January 2024 it is roughly 4%[85] The government considers private-sector participation as being critical to the success of the country's Tenth National Development Plan (2009–2016) and enhancing the role of research and development as being the most effective way to nurture entrepreneurship and private-sector growth.

[23] This ranks Botswana as by far the best credit risk in Africa and puts it on par with or above many countries in central Europe, East Asia, and Latin America.

[23] The sovereign credit ratings by Moody's and Standard & Poor's clearly indicate that, despite continued challenges such as small market size, landlocked location, and cumbersome bureaucratic processes, Botswana remains one of the best investment opportunities in the developing world.

[23] Due to its history and geography, Botswana has long and deep ties to the economy of South Africa.

[23] Under this arrangement, South Africa has collected levies from customs, sales, and excise duties for all five members, sharing out proceeds based on each country's portion of imports.

[23] The exact formula for sharing revenues and the decision-making authority over duties—held exclusively by the Government of South Africa—became increasingly controversial, and the members renegotiated the arrangement in 2001.

[23] Botswana has successfully carried an Action Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, which was adopted in the period 2006–2007.

These companies represent a spectrum of industries and commerce, from Banking and financial services to Wholesaling and Retailing, Tourism and Information Technology.

In recent years the government and Central Bank have undertaken serious steps to modernize the country's payment system infrastructure.