26 Jul 2018

President Mokgweetsi Masisi says Botswana is ready to tap the financial expertise and intellectual capital offered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He was speaking to an IMF delegation led by its deputy managing director Mr Tao Zhang that paid a courtesy call on him at Office of President on July 25.

Mr Masisi said the biggest challenge for the country was job creation and economic diversification and needed the different set of skills from IMF.

“We value and cherish the quality of personnel that you provide to us. I want to applaud you for what you have done so far in providing us with the expertise,” he said.

For his part, Mr Zhang said IMF was about to conclude its assessment of individual member countries and that it would share be the contents of Article IV on consultation with Botswana.

Article IV entails annual consultation with each member state and undertaking visits to countries to assess economic, health and financial developments.

The organisation also operates the IMF Institute which provides training in macroeconomic analysis and policy formulation for officials of member countries.

Regarding Botswana, he said IMF had noted that the country enjoyed favourable social indicators in terms of health and education although there were challenges relating to the provision of  job opportunities for the youth and unlocking other potential in the resource-rich country.

Mr Zhang advised Botswana to find the best ways  of diversifying the economy saying there was untapped potential in the country’s resources.

He said IMF was committed to working with Botswana to provide the needed help.

“I understand that government is working hard to transform the economy to make it more inclusive and broad based, we are ready to assist you,” he said.

IMF, he said, could offer technical assistance as well as assessments to Botswana.

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance and Economic Development Mr Kenneth Matambo said the IMF had made recommendations on how the country could improve on financial management.

He said although Botswana had not had any IMF loans, it had benefitted immensely from the technical assistance offered by IMF in the area of tax reforms, financial management, fiscal and monetary policy.

“Our relations with them so far had proven to be very good,” he said.

On other issues, he said government was cautious of the high wage bill but was sometimes tempted to create jobs due to compelling reasons at hand.

Bank of Botswana Governor Moses Pelaelo expressed appreciation for meeting with IMF deputy director noting that the success in Botswana’s fiscal prudence was good for the country.

Mr Pelaelo said the technical assistance provided by IMF was cherished but noted that the country would want to benefit from other programmes offered by the fund.

He said the structural change in the economy was a cause for concern because the non-mining sector was carrying a burden for the country that used to heavily rely on minerals. ENDS