22 Apr 2020

Government has set aside P10 million to provide loans to informal traders to be able to purchase the stock they need to resuscitate their businesses when normal economic activity resumes.

Addressing a press conference through a Skype video April 22, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Ms Peggy Serame said that was part of government’s effort to explore ways of assisting informal traders who, she said constituted a significant percentage of role players in the national economy.

Ms Serame said government appreciated that the informal sector had been hard hit by the current extreme social distancing measures put in place to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, she said, while measures to relieve formal businesses were already in place, means of extending support to the informal sector were still being explored, owing to undocumented informal traders.

Financial support, she explained, would be availed through the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA), adding they would engage other role players such as the private sector and development partners with a view of possibly increasing the amount offered.

Ms Serame also indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic came at a time when measures were in place, through the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA), to assess the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and informal traders operating in the country.

She said LEA and Statistics Botswana would proceed with the task of documenting such traders.

On other issues, Ms Serame noted that the process of transporting some goods imported from other countries, in particular South Africa, had become slow, adding however, the ministry was continuously engaging the office of the South African Minister of Trade and Investment over the issue.

She said affected businesses could contact the chief trade negotiator in the ministry, Mr Phadza Butale, to engage the South African side on their behalf.

Meanwhile, Minister Serame commended the University of Botswana and the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) for their contribution to the fight against the COVID-19 scourge as well as other local businesses who were also lending a hand, including in the manufacture of hospital bed mattresses and protective gear used by health practitioners in the COVID-19 frontline.

Ms Serame said the ministry was also working with the Ministry of Health and Wellness to ensure that parents of babies born during the current lockdown period would have access to clothing and district health management teams (DHMTs) were documenting the need for such countrywide.

Notwithstanding, Ms Serame said currently there was no plan to open clothing retail stores as there had never been an undertaking to declare their wares as essential goods. Ends