15 Feb 2017

A total of P15.56 billion, was used on Defence and Security during National Development Plan (NDP ) 9  whilst P36.77 billion was used in NDP 10, which translate to 4.32 per cent and 3.78 per cent of Gross Development Product (GDP), respectively. This was said by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Kenneth Matambo, when responding to a question in Parliament from MP for Selebi Phikwe West, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse. “Out of the total amount stated above, the amount for military expenditure alone during NDP 9 was P9.89 billion or 2.75 per cent of GDP and in NDP 10 was P21.26 billion or 2.18 per cent of GDP,” added Mr Matambo. Regarding intelligence services, the minister said a total of P274.46 million was spent during NDP 9, which was 0.08 per cent of GDP and a sum of P2.34 billion was spent in NDP 10, which was 0.24 per cent of GDP. “The aforesaid spending cannot be compared with that of United Kingdom, United States of America and France, because these countries use different variables for similar types of computations,” he said. MP Keorapetse had asked Mr Matambo to state the amount of money, in Pula terms and as percentages of GDP, Botswana used in defence and security spending in general for the NDP 9 and 10 periods, where applicable. The Selebi Phikwe MP also wanted to know the amount of money, in Pula terms and as percentages of GDP, Botswana used in military spending in general for the two planning periods, intelligence services spending for the two planning periods and to compare the aforesaid spending with UK, USA and France. ENDS