15 Jul 2025

Government seeks to address the structural deficiency of the economy through a bold new vision encompassed by the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP), Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe has said.

Speaking at official launch of the BETP in Gaborone yesterday, Mr Gaolathe said government was fully committed to a transformation agenda rooted on fiscal discipline, infrastructure revatilisation, state owned enterprise reform and skills development, and would ensure both economic efficiency and social transformation.

He said the programme would be implemented in four phases; the diagnostic review of existing policy gaps, the strategic alignment with identification of sectors that offer the most growth potential, economic labs, with cross sector collaboration to convert ideas into feasible projects and the execution part with measurable performance indicators.

Mr Gaolathe said the programme would be government owned and coordinated across ministries with the support of PEMANDU Associates, an international consultancy organisation with global experience,  and would be focused on delivery.

“The BETP is inclusive, open to every Motswana from cooperatives to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), informal sectors, investors to public servants. It is also time bound, moving from idea generation to execution road map within three weeks. Third, it is data driven, every single project will undergo structured analysis, evaluating return on investment, employment potential and strategic alignment,” he said.

Mr Gaolathe said government had now launched the call for ideas, and for the next four weeks, individuals and companies could propose bold, scalable projects, public sector reforms and high impact proposals which could be submitted online at the cfi.gov.bw website.

The economic labs will co-evaluate the viable proposals, marking a departure from traditional national planning which he said was traditionally slow and abstract, and needed to be replaced by real time decision making, cost-benefit analysis, feasibility and alignment with long term economic impact.

“Through PEMANDU Big Fast Results (BFR) methodology we will invest necessary time and technical discipline to rigorously evaluate every submitted project, it’s viability, returns, job creation potential and strategic fit with our transformation goals. The next development plan, informed directly by the results of the BETP will be like unlike any other before, ” Mr Gaolathe said.

The Vice President said parallel to economic labs, would be social labs that would focus on societal challenges through inclusive dialogue and provide practical solutions on community livelihoods, youth engagement, public health and social cohesion.

Speaking on the same occasion, Minister for State President Mr Moeti Mohwasa said while Botswana had enjoyed international accolades for prudent development planning, recent experience had pointed to the country being stuck in the middle income trap and a change of approach was necessary.

Mr Mohwasa said national development planning process had now entered a pivotal milestone, and Botswana was now prepared to write a new success story, built on accountability, execution and ambition, with government engaging private sector, development partners, civil society, and citizens for inclusive planning.

Minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Mr Ketlhalefile Motshegwa called on international private sector to take advantage of the next frontier of growth offered by economic potential and peace dividend of the country, to co-create a new Botswana alongside a public sector reborn as a machine of delivery, to work on viable revenue generating and job creating projects. ENDS