Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The trade deficit for Botswana, the World’s biggest diamond produucer, widened to 2.62 billion pula ($392 million) in the first quarter compared with 1.63 billion pula a year earlier, the country’s statistics office said.

Exports increased 17 percent to 9.2 billion pula and imports rose 27 percent to 12 billion pula, the Gaborone-based Central Statistics Office said in a statement on its website today.

Diamond exports advanced 23 percent to 6.94 billion pula compared with the same quarter in 2010, it said.