22 May 2014

President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama has warned the nation not to assume the risks of global economic downturn have disappeared, as they have only decreased.

He said this when addressing the 36th meeting of the High Level Consultative Council (HLCC) in Gaborone on Thursday, May 22.

He said owing to the likelihood of a return of the crisis, it was important that Botswana should maintain its usual financial self-restraint and vigilance.
The President explained the seeming disappearance of the global recession was due to latest strengthening of advanced economies.

“According to the International Monetary Fund’s latest issue of the World Economic Outlook of April 2014, the Global economy strengthened during the second half of 2013 and is expected to improve further during 2014-15. The impulse has come mainly from advanced economies, although their recoveries remain uneven,” he said.

President Khama said latest data from the World Economic Outlook for April 2014 suggested a slight improvement in global growth in the first half of the year.

He said global economic growth was forecasted at 3.6 per cent on average in 2014 and at 3.9 per cent in 2015 compared to 3 per cent in 2013.

“While there are prospects of growth, we should bear in mind that the acute risks have only decreased but not disappeared. The global economy is still fragile,” he said.

He said risks previously identified included completing the financial sector reform agenda, high debt levels in many countries, stubbornly high unemployment, and concerns about emerging markets.

While on the whole Botswana’s domestic economy was expected to grow by 4.5 per cent per annum in 2014 and 4.4 per cent in 2015, there was need for the country to shrewdly handle its resources.

To further cushion the country from possible return of the recession government was doing all it could to improve the climate for private sector activity through the on-going Doing Business reform programme.

“Now that we have successfully come through the period of the global financial crisis, we need to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead,” he said.

Such opportunities include the growth of Foreign Direct Investment in the region by assessing policies and programmes with a view to unlocking the potential to be among the leading economies in the region.

The President said unlocking the country’s economic potential hinged on the development of the youth, many of whom remained unemployed and were vulnerable to a myriad of socio-economic challenges.

“Government recently introduced the National Service Programme to address some of the challenges of the youth. The programme takes a multi sectoral and integrated approach to creating opportunities for young people to gain work skills and experience while simultaneously contributing to the development of their communities.” he said.

The ultimate goal is for young people to gain lifelong skills and experience for self-reliance. It also fosters behaviour change as it instill,a sense of responsibility and accountability.

He said the response from young people had been a positive one with over 33 000 applying to enlist with the programme.

However, only 15 000 could be accepted in the first phase owing to resource constraints.

“We hope therefore that this initiative will complement other youth empowerment programmes as we work towards improved livelihoods of Batswana.”

He urged the private sector to partner with government in improving the livelihood of young people by absorbing them as interns under the government Internship programme.

The President also thanked companies that have partnered with the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture in the ongoing African Youth Games, which Botswana is hosting.

He said the support was highly commendable as it showed the growing commitment of the private sector to the development of sport in the country. ENDS