18 Nov 2019

In order to boost investment, generate income and create jobs, the government is working on various interventions to improve the ease of conducting business in the country, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said in Parliament yesterday.

In his of the State of the Nation Address, the second since ascending to the highest office in the land in April 2018, and the first after being elected for a five year term in the recent general elections, President Masisi said the government had set in place various interventions to boost the business climate.

Having recently pronounced in his inauguration speech on November 1 that his government’s blueprint for development would be guided by a National Transformation Strategy, President Masisi said the current review of the eleventh National Development Plan (NDP 11) presented an opportunity to accommodate new ideas.

“We will continuously improve the doing business environment and competitiveness of our enterprises through close monitoring and evaluation of all our processes and procedures, as well as the regulatory framework with a view to remove impediments,” Dr Masisi said.

He reminded the nation that upon first assuming office he had promised to create jobs and he said this could not be achieved without ‘rolling out the red carpet for sustainable and impactful investment.’

Noting that as an economy Botswana was challenged by its market size, President Masisi said the country needed deliberate interventions to promote export oriented businesses which would be achieved through the Botswana Export Development Programme (BEDP), the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and regional integration.

“To facilitate the ease of doing business in the country, government is reviewing both the Immigration Act to make sure that it effectively enables the employment of non-citizens and point based system to make the assessment of work permits applications fair, objective and more transparent,” President Masisi said.

He further added that the automation of work permit process would be carried out to improve the turnaround time for the processing of applications.

“Moreover, government is in the process of developing a secure and integrated system that will interface the business sector with the immigration and civil registration systems to ensure service efficiency by government,” Dr Masisi revealed.

He said this would be achieved through facilitation of online services particularly for critical functions such as visa applications, the processing of work and residence permits and the development of the electronic identity document.

“The Online Business Registration (OBRS) which went live in June this year, has resulted in the reduction of the Starting-a-Business Indicator processes from nine to seven days, as it has a combined name reservation, declaration and registration to become a single service,” the President said.

He further revealed that the OBRS had also reduced the average turnaround time for companies and business name registration as well as the Starting-a-Business sub-indicator from an average of five days to one day and from 48 days to 37 days respectively.

The President added that the integration of OBRS with other systems such as that of the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS), the Civil and National Registration system and the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB), had been completed and was operational.  

The last phase which would enable companies to file annual returns online has commenced and will be completed in March 2020, he said.

He also said the industrial policy of 2014 would also be reviewed to align it with the aspirations of both the National Vision 2036 as well as the dictates of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The President also revealed that the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) strategy was also currently under review in order to put in place interventions that would improve its implementation.

The Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) meanwhile, has created a total of 2 466 jobs in the manufacturing, property, services and agricultural sectors in the 2018-19 financial year, with a total investment of P466 million, Dr Masisi said. Ends