What is the currency of Botswana?

The currency of Botswana is the Botswana pula.

Botswana introduced the pula on 23 August 1976, a date remembered as Pula Day. It replaced the South African rand at par, giving the newly independent country a national currency of its own. The currency’s ISO 4217 code is BWP, and it is issued by the Bank of Botswana.

Pula means “rain” in Setswana. Rain is especially valuable in Botswana, where much of the country is covered by the Kalahari Desert, so the word also carries associations of blessing, prosperity and good fortune. Botswana’s currency subunit is the thebe, meaning “shield”; 100 thebe make one pula.

Botswana’s pula should not be confused with the Namibian dollar, Zimbabwean dollar or South African rand, although all circulate in the same broad southern African region. Since 1980, the pula has been managed against a basket reflecting Botswana’s trading relationships, including the South African rand and the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing rights.