06 Feb 2018

The policies and strategies proposed for implementation during the 2018/19 financial year as well as the corresponding resource allocations continue to be aligned to some key national priorities.

Delivering the budget speech yesterday, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Kenneth Matambo said the national priorities in question were those of developing diversified sources of economic growth, human capital development, sustainable use of natural resources, consolidation of good governance and strengthening of national security as well as the implementation of an effective monitoring and evaluation system.

Mr Matambo said to align the budget allocations with national priorities, the 2018/19 financial year would focus on broad strategic intervention areas of promoting growth and economic diversification, investing in human capital for building an inclusive society and maintaining a sustainable fiscal policy. He said addressing these areas through the 2018/19 financial year, the budget was expected to contribute to improved domestic environment for private sector investment resulting in economic growth and creation of employment opportunities.

Furthermore, the minister pointed out that in an effort to create a conducive environment for promoting growth and economic diversification, government would continue to focus on the ease of doing business and the development and maintenance of economic infrastructure.

With regard to the ease of doing business, he explained that government remained committed to improving the country’s ranking as it affected its ability to attract foreign direct investment which was necessary for growth and economic diversification.

He said in this regard, government had embarked on several policy and regulatory reforms aimed at improving doing business in the country.

He said among the major milestones achieved in 2017 was the adoption of the Regulatory Impact Assessment Strategy, whose aim was among others, to reduce the cost of doing business in the economy.

“The objectives of the regulatory impact assessment strategy are to improve the regulatory environment, reduce the administrative burden imposed by regulations and build investor confidence in the legislation process,” he said.

He said other reforms implemented under the Doing Business Reforms Roadmap included improving electronic filing and payment of taxes and the online customs management system. The initiatives, he pointed out, were expected to result in improvement of service delivery, reduced paperwork and overall reduction in the cost and time of doing business thereby enhancing overall competitiveness. 

Mr Matambo said additionally policy reforms were currently underway in different areas of the economy such as procurement, land management and public finance management, all aimed at improving the environment for doing business in the country.

The minister also stated that government recognised the critical need for the development and maintenance of economic infrastructure in promoting economic growth hence a significant amount of the 2018/19 budget was proposed for allocation to energy, water, roads and information and communication technology infrastructure.

He said in the area of energy, government would continue to invest in power generation, transmission and distribution as adequate power supply was a critical enabler for investment as well as improving the standard of living of Batswana.

“In this regard, an amount of approximately P2 billion has been proposed for allocation to the energy sector. Furthermore, government has established an independent energy regulator, namely the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority which will ensure orderly development of the energy sector by encouraging participation of independent power producers in the generation of power as well as promoting the goal of energy supply mix as espoused in NDP11,” he said. 

With regard to the development of water infrastructure, government would continue to prioritise in the area given the critical role of water supply as an input for economic growth and development, he said, adding that P2.53 billion had been proposed for water development programmes and projects in the 2018/19 financial year to cover investments in the improvement of water supply networks.

On roads, Minister Matambo said the development of the country’s road network remained critical in the promotion of growth and economic diversification particularly in accessing high potential production areas and markets. 

He noted that a well developed and maintained road network could contribute to efficiency in the distribution of goods and services within and outside the country, something that he noted was necessary for maintaining competitiveness of domestic entities in the global market.

He said P2 billion had been proposed for improvement of the country’s road network during the 2018/19 financial year.

“In addition, an amount of P1.5 billion from the road levy collections fund would be spent on road maintenance,” he said.

Regarding information and communications technology (ICT), the minister said the development of ICT backbone infrastructure was necessary for equitable and affordable access to broadband connectivity.

He said in recognition of the importance of ICT in promoting growth and economic diversification, P461 million was proposed for allocation in the 2018/19 budget to improve on the government ICT infrastructure, including expansion of the government data network and installing of ICT infrastructure in secondary schools.

In summary, he said an amount of P2.23 billion, comprising a development budget of P1.24 billion and recurrent budget of P987.7 million was proposed for allocation during the 2018/19 financial year to cover the maintenance of government facilities throughout the country, including urgent repairs to schools and health facilities. BOPA