While our ongoing economic diversification efforts have resulted in measurable progress, we continue to be largely dependent on mineral, more especially diamond, revenues. As such, the country remains at risk from volatility in global commodity prices. According to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) most recent World Economic Outlook report, modest global growth rates of 3.1% for 2016 and 3.4% for 2017 are expected. Recent experience, however, teaches us to treat such projections with caution. Despite initially optimistic projections, our domestic economy last year ended up with a negative growth of 0.3%, having been driven down by a 19.7% decline in mineral revenues linked to weaker global demand, aggravated by drought and the challenges we experienced in our water and energy sectors. We anticipate an overall domestic growth rate of 3.5% for this year and 4.1% in 2017. In this respect, while the liquidation of the BCL Group of companies will continue to have economic and social implications, particularly in the area of employment, it is anticipated that it will have limited direct impact in terms of our exports, Government revenues and overall growth. Government shall, nonetheless, continue to closely monitor developments with respect to the BCL liquidation process with the…