25 Mar 2014

Botswana’s global ranking on ease of doing business continues to improve, says trade and industry, Minister Dorcas Makgato-Malesu.

When presenting her ministry’s budget proposal for the 2014/15 financial year in Parliament on March 24, Ms Makgato-Malesu said the 2013/14 Global Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum showed that Botswana had improved from position 79 out of 144 countries to position 74 out of 148 countries.

“This is due to reinforcement of macroeconomic fundamentals such as realising a balanced budget,” she said. In addition, the 2014 World Bank Doing Business Report ranked Botswana at position 56 out of 189 countries compared to position 65 out of 185 countries in the 2013 report.

Ms Makgato-Malesu also revealed that government had spent a cumulative P10.6 billion purchasing goods and services from local companies through the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) since it was incepted. She said the figure for the 2013/14 financial year stood at P2.3billion.

She added that the value of purchases from local manufacturers and service providers since 2010 was over P8 billion, while it stood at P1.2 billion for this financial year.

Ms Makgato-Malesu said government had extended the Special Support Program (SSP) for the textile industry for a period of 12 months effective October 2013 and a total of P20 million had been approved under the Ipelegeng programme to provide support for over 3 800 people in the textile and apparel sector.

She added that government was undertaking three programmes under the Enterprise Competitiveness framework. The first programme was Botswana Economic Diversification and competitiveness, which was undertaken in collaboration with the World Bank.

The second program was the Anglo American/Botswana Government Enterprise Development Program, which aimed at increasing levels of productivity in the local small and medium enterprises sector by leveraging on existing programmes.

Launched in 2013, the Tokafala programme was aimed at promoting economic development by catalyzing the growth of small, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs).

“The program is expected to assist up to 600 micro enterprises, 445 small enterprises and nine to 15 medium enterprises. It will also support 5 800 to 6 000 jobs while creating 370 to 400 new jobs,” she said.

She said the third program is the Private Sector Development program, which is jointly supported by European Union (EU), Centre for the Development of Enterprises (CDE), Chanel Foundation and Botswana Government.

Ms Makgato-Malesu said this programme targeted SMMEs, Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and Intermediary Organizations (IOs) capable of making the best contribution towards the objectives of economic diversification, modernization of the private sector base and employment creation.

She noted that to date, 35 women entrepreneurs have been selected for sponsorship by Chanel Foundation and other ongoing activities include Value Chain Analysis in agro-manufacturing, tourism, information and communication technology (ICT) and public works sectors.

Ms Makgato-Malesu also revealed that funds have been approved for a number of projects under the Selibe Phikwe Diversification Unit (SPEDU).

These include a feasibility study for expansion of the Selibe Phikwe Airport, expected to be completed by June 2014 and the horticulture produce packaging and processing plant, which is expected to be operational by August 2014.

The other project is the electrification of farms along the Motloutse River and construction of the Platjan Bridge, both of which are expected to commence at the beginning of the next financial year.

On entrepreneurship development, Ms Makgato-Malesu said the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) has created 4 689 new jobs since inception, 262 of which were created as at the end of October 2013.

She added that between April and October 2013, LEA submitted a total of 77 business plans for consideration by different financial institutions and 21 were approved, 20 rejected and 36 were still being considered.

Ms Makgato-Malesu said LEA has targeted secondary school leavers and final year vocational training institute students as a starting point through the Entrepreneurship Awareness Workshops (EAW) in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD).

She further revealed that the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) has funded 4 302 projects at a cost of P8.55 billion since inception, generating 48 935 jobs in the process.

She said for the 2013/14 financial year, a total of 139 projects were funded at a cost of P203 million with the agri-business sector having 23 projects worth P42 million, services sector with 91 projects financed at the value of P95 million and the property and manufacturing sectors with 25 projects worth P66 million.

Furthermore, Ms Makgato-Malesu said the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) was established following the merger of Botswana Export Development and Investment Agency (BEDIA) and International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).

She said BITC has realized Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) worth P1.3 billion and continues to support local exporters to access foreign markets.

She added that Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) has invested over P1.5 billion and generated over 2000 jobs in the last five years in the agri-business, services and manufacturing sectors.

She said BDC has completed the Business Model Review, which was meant to review the corporation’s current mandate and business model and recommend a sustainable, efficient and value adding business model in line with best practice. Ends