07 Dec 2015

The key emerging trend from several productivity indicators from Botswana Productivity Statistics Report is that the country’s productivity has slackened compared to previous decades with total factor productivity averaging -2.6 per cent over the period 2003 to 2012.

Speaking at the launch of the Botswana Productivity Statistics Report recently, the executive director of Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC), Mr Baeti Molake said a key observation from labour productivity indicators was that except for mining and the utilities sector, there have been supply shocks over the years with labour productivity increasing

over the years though at a decreasing rate.
Mr Molake said caution needs to be exercised when interpreting single factor productivity indicators as they partially reflect the change in productivity on account of one factor of production without regard to changes in other factors of production.

He said the last time they produced a report of this nature was in 2007, and that such reports were key for policy development, decision making and national planning.

“This report forms the core of our strategic objective of providing productivity information and it is derived from the mandate which directs us to carry out studies, enquiries and research in the fields of management, development and productivity in cooperation with industry, commerce and organisations with related interests,” he said.

Mr Molake said although they had to discontinue the production of the report in 2008 due to data challenges, which also characterise the current report, he was happy that they took the bold decision of producing the 2015 report.

“We are aware that it may not be a perfect product but we believe that it provides good indicators and we are hopeful that we will continue to improve over the years as data challenges are receiving the necessary attention,” he said.

He noted that the most comprehensive productivity indicators were last compiled and published in the 2007 report, wherein capital and labour productivity as well as unit labour costs were presented for key sectors of the economy covering the period 1980 to 2007.

“In the current report that we are launching, we have used the KLEMS to calculate productivity for the whole economy covering the period 2000 to 2013,” said Mr Molake.

He further said BNPC has been able to provide several single factor productivity indicators for various sectors of the economy and that they include labour productivity, capital productivity and unit labour cost.

“In this year’s report, labour productivity and capital productivity indicators are presented bi-annually unlike multifactor productivity which is presented on yearly basis,” he said. ENDS