GABORONE, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Sales of rough diamonds at the Debswana Diamond Company fell about 52% in the first nine months of 2024, data released by Botswana’s central bank on Tuesday showed, as the downturn in the global diamond market persisted.

Debswana, equally owned by Botswana and Anglo American Plc’s AAL.L De Beers, sells 75% of its output to De Beers, with the balance taken up by the state-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC).

Last year, Botswana and De Beers agreed to a new 10-year diamond sales agreement, where ODC will receive 30% of Debswana’s produce and this will be scaled up to 50% by the end of the new contract.

In the first three quarters of the year up to September, Debswana had sold diamonds worth $1.53 billion compared to $3.19 billion in the same period last year, the Bank of Botswana said on Tuesday.

In local currency terms, sales were down 50.3% to 20.9 billion pula, which translates to about $1.55 billion based on current exchange rates.

Botswana gets 30%-40% of its revenue, 75% of its foreign exchange earnings, and a third of its national output from diamonds. It is the world’s top producer of the gem by value.

The southern African country will hold a general election on Wednesday, with the poor performance of the economy-largely due to the downturn in the global diamond market-and high levels of unemployment among the issues in focus.

“Our diamonds have not been selling since April, so yes, our revenues are down but the economic fundamentals still remain intact,” President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who is seeking a second term, said at a presidential debate last week.

($1 = 13.4590 pulas)

(Reporting by Brian Benza; Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Bhargav Acharya)