14 Apr 2021

Parliament has been informed that Botswana’s economic grow over the past three years has been 4.5 per cent in 2018, 3.0 per cent in 2019 and -7.9 per cent in 2020, as per the latest national accounts estimates from Statistics Botswana released in April 2021.

Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Thapelo Matsheka said the economy was projected to register positive growth rates of 8.8 per cent, 5.5 per cent and 4.5 per cent in 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively.

“This growth is anticipated to be driven by recovery in the mining industry, particularly in the diamond sector, as the world economy recovers from the effects of COVID-19 pandemic which were felt in 2020,” he said.

Tourism prospects, he said were also expected to be positive due to easing of travelling restrictions across borders, as well as access to vaccines, which have the potential to expedite a recovery in normal business operations, reducing the need for further containment measures, although there remained considerable uncertainty regarding the pace at which global travel and tourism would recover in 2021 and 2022.

He also indicated that labour force indicators were collected through the less frequent Botswana Multi-Topic Household Surveys (BMTHS), until the introduction of the Quarterly Multi-Topic Surveys (QMTS) in the third quarter of 2019.

The QMTS provides high-frequency labour force indicators and provides input data for the development of the Labour Market Information System (LMIS) that is being developed by Human Resource Development Council (HRDC), he added.

Minister Matsheka further noted that based on the results from the last BMTHS of 2015/16 and QMTS in the third quarter of 2019, total employment grew from 689 528 to 742 378 persons, an increase of 52 850 persons in four years.

In this connection, he said, the percentage increased over a period of four years (2015– 2019) to 7.66 per cent, hence the average annual growth rate was just under 2 per cent.

Relating this to average GDP growth rates over the same period, the minister said, the result was that the rate of employment growth was half of the rate of real GDP growth.

He said in that regard, the projected GDP growth over 2021-23, totaling 18.8 per cent, would lead to 9.4 per cent employment growth, or approximately 70 000 new jobs over the next three years.

Dr Matsheka told the House that based on long term employment trends; it showed that the total employment grows on average between 2 per cent and 2.5 per cent a year. “If we take total employment of 742 378 persons in 2019, it implies that approximately 15 000 new jobs will be created each year,” he said.

As per the BMTHS 2015/16, he explained that there were approximately 6 000 persons that retire yearly (between ages 55 and 64) and there were also some 15 000 new jobs created each year. “This implies that there are some 21 000 job opportunities for new entrants into the labour force yearly,” he said.

In addition, he explained that flagship sectors that would lead the projected economic growth for the years 2021 and 2022 included Mining, Transport and Communications, Tourism, Water and Electricity, Finance and Business Service, Trade and Investment, Agriculture amongst others.

Dr Matsheka highlighted that flagship projects that would lead the projected economic growth for the years 2021 and 2022 included the Special Economic Zones, Pandamatenga Silos, Leather Industry Park, Zambezi Agro Commercial Development (feasibility and development), Mohembo bridge, Schools connectivity project, GDN Expansion, National ICT Backbone and Molepolole Connections to NSC amongst others.

Kanye North MP, Mr Thapelo Letsholo had asked the minister to apprise the House on Botswana’s economic growth over the last three years and projections for the next three years and also on the number of permanent jobs that had have been created as a result of the economic growth annually, how many would be created in relation to the projected growth of the next three years.

MP Letsholo also wanted the minister to state the number of new permanent jobs the economy was creating each year and those created annually in the economy as a result of retirees.
Further, Mr Letsholo also wanted to know what flagship sectors would lead the projected economic growth for the years 2021 and 2022 and what flagship projects, with timelines, would lead the projected economic growth for the years 2021 and 2022. ENDS