12 Sep 2016

President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama has called on Batswana to set their sights on another 50 years of a positive socio-economic route towards a vibrant, diverse and resilient high income economy.
Speaking at the 14^th biennial Business Botswana national conference at Adansonia hotel in Francistown on Monday (September 12), Lt Gen. Khama said the country’s record in managing the economy judiciously and prudently during the last 50 years was the best on the continent and amongst the best in the world.
He said there was no time for stakeholders to rest on their laurels apart from setting their sights on the next 50 years.
“The government will continue to maintain and improve policies and the regulatory framework; thus it is upon the private sector to play its role in the pursuit of economic transformation,” he said.
The President said the government initiated the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) in 2010 to primarily accelerate economic diversification which had proved to be a challenge since independence.
Government’s idea was also to facilitate the use of locally manufactured building and road construction materials by contractors in all Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP), he said.
He further said his government would also promote effective business regulations and private property rights to ensure that businesses were not hobbled by excessive regulations and red tape.
“In this regard, government is implementing a Doing Business Reforms Roadmap and Action Plan with a view to addressing administrative, legal and structural bottlenecks,” he said.
He said in the quest to further modernise the economy and position the country as a global competitor, the government would open up the provision of public utilities such as water, power, and the delivery of road infrastructure projects to private capital.
Lt Gen Khama however said, for the country to position its self on a high, stable, non-inflationary and diversified economic growth, other stakeholders such as the private sector had to play their role.
“We firmly believe that the business of producing goods and services through meaningful and productive utilisation of our national endowments, information and technology, human capital, as well as entrepreneurial capabilities, can best be handled by the private sector; hence the notion that the private sector is the engine of growth of the economy,” he said.
He told the conference delegates that there was need to raise labour productivity, not only by factory workers, but by all workers in the economy from the unskilled to the chief executive officers.
“If workers become more productive, they produce more wealth and this is in turn leads to greater availability of resources for saving, investment and jobs,” said the President.
He said although he took full cognisance of the measures that the monetary authorities continued to adopt to ensure low, stable inflation and flexible foreign exchange regime, the labour productivity was seen as the most sustainable route to low and stable inflation as it encouraged businesses to plan their investment decision prudently. Lt Gen. Dr Khama said in 2014, the European Union (EU)/Southern African Development Community (SADC) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which guaranteed duty and quota free export market access, was concluded; thus he urged the conference delegates to consider the possible impact of the recent British referendum on the country’s beef export and map the way forward.
He assured the conference that the government would engage with the United Kingdom and EU partners to address any uncertainty that may hinder the export.
He further said the extension of the Africa Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA) by 15 years also offered quota and duty free access to the US market, adding that there was need to raise the bar to attract Foreign Direct Investment in the manufacturing sector.
“In order to take advantage of AGOA and other lucrative export markets, we have established Special Economic Zones Authority and through them we aim to attract world class domestic and foreign investors by offering them developed infrastructure, state of the art technology, beneficial inter-sectoral linkages and targeted economic incentives,” he said. ENDS