05 Aug 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated revisions to the Mid-Term Review of the 11^th National Development Plan (NDP 11).

However, government will ensure that some important projects are implemented, including the construction of rail and road infrastructure.

This was revealed by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Thapelo Matsheka while presenting revisions to the Mid-Term Review of NDP11 to Parliament on Tuesday.

Dr Matsheka said the pandemic had sharply reduced economic growth and national income while also worsening the country’s fiscal and balance of payments positions, but government now sought to implement its Economic Recovery Transformation Plan, which is fused into NDP 11.

The Lobatse legislator revealed that some projects that were included in the 2020-21 budget, including office blocks and staff housing, had since been re-prioritised to pave way for other high priority developments.

“The re-prioritisation process released P910.2 million, which is being proposed for re-allocation to some of the emerging priority projects as a result of the COVID-19,” Dr Matsheka said.

As amended during the Mid-Term Review and with the addition of the Economic Recovery Transformation Plan, NDP 11 includes a large number of development projects, he noted.

“Some of the key projects that we intend to implement include the upgrading of key transport links, including major roads such as the Francistown-Nata-Maun-Mohembo road, the dualling of the A1, the Martin’s Drift-Palapye road and the upgrading of the bridge over Limpopo River,” Dr Matsheka revealed.

Other important infrastructural projects envisioned to be pursued include a new railway link through the Mmamabula area to Lephalale in South Africa, which the minister said would unlock the potential of coal mining for export.

“We will invest in the expansion of agriculture, covering beef and dairy production, small-stock, horticulture, and fish farming. Solar energy projects will be vigorously promoted to diversify our energy supplies and reduce costs and electricity imports,” Dr Matsheka told the National Assembly.

Land servicing for Special Economic Zones, the proposed Orapa House Technology Park, the digitalisation of the education curriculum and the provision of funding to enable Botswana Television to commission local content are some of the other high priority projects, he said.

Dr Matsheka added that the Mid-Term Review did not only focus on project implementation, but also on improving the business environment, making economic growth patterns more inclusive, ‘greener,’ and to make Botswana firms more competitive.

NDP 11, which runs from the 2016-17 to the 2022-23 financial years, previously had its Mid-Term Review presented before Parliament, but Dr Matsheka revealed that government had since deemed it fit to undertake a major revisions in light of the challenges posed by COVID-19.

“It has been necessary to undertake a major revision of the macroeconomic projections and project prioritisation in order to focus on the immediate COVID-19 economic response.   The pandemic has highlighted the country’s vulnerabilities in various sectors and we are forced to dig deeper to reclaim lost ground,” Dr Matsheka said.

Domestic GDP growth had initially been projected to average 4.1 per cent a year during the second half of NDP 11, Dr Matsheka said, but owing to the effects of the COVID-19, the average GDP growth over this period is now anticipated to be at 1.9 per cent.

He further said that the economy was projected to contract by 8.9 per cent in 2020, followed by a rebound to 7.7 per cent in 2021. Government revenues were projected to be 16 per cent lower in the current 2020-21 financial year.

Such challenges gave rise to reprioritisation of the budget, the implementation of the short term COVID-19 Economic Stabilisation Plan between April and June 2020 to cushion the country from the ill effects of the pandemic, as well as the NDP 11 revision, Dr Matsheka said.

“The Mid-Term Review has short, medium and long term elements. The objectives are to support the restoration of economic activity and incomes, facilitate economic growth and expand productive capacity, accelerate economic transformation and build the resilience of the economy,” he said.

Copies of the Revised NDP 11 Mid-Term Review were availed to parliamentarians to study, and a debate is Monday. Ends