Botswana: Economist - Develop New Engines of Growth

An Associate Professor at the University of Botswana (UB)-International Economist-Imogen Bonolo Mogotsi says Botswana should intensify development and support for new potential engines of growth to reduce over-reliance on infinite commodities like diamonds. Discussing the topic "Towards a Proud and United Nation" at a BOT50 public lecture organised by UB on Thursday, Mogotsi said diamonds and other mining resources being infinite commodities, Botswana should intensify economic diversification efforts to create the next economic lifeline. She cautioned that the mining sector is heavily dependent on developments in international markets and therefore exposed to turbulence in commodity prices worldwide, which presents a challenge for economies like Botswana. Among major challenges to economic diversification Mogotsi mentioned the difficulty of doing business in Botswana, an unfriendly environment for foreign investors due to poor work ethic, and immigration bottlenecks which are aggravated by heightened rejection of visas, lengthy turnaround time in processing of applications for work and residence permits, and mysterious cancellation or withdrawal of same. "As a member of SACU Botswana is competing with four other neighbouring member states for the same investors, who enjoy duty free access within the customs union. With so many obstacles in Botswana, potential investors are likely to choose to settle next door where they would enjoy an extra benefit of a higher population, which translates into a bigger market. Government has to seriously look into removing these bottlenecks for economic diversification to be a success," she said.

Mogotsi warned that overregulation of the economy breeds corruption and underhand dealings among officials, and therefore called for the removal of red tape and review of regulations and laws that negatively impact doing business in Botswana. In fact, the same warning was sounded by Lesotho Minister of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing Joshua Setipa and Botswana's only AGOA beneficiary-Carapparel Managing Director Sam Lin-in April. They revealed that when Botswana rejects applications for work and residence permits from highly qualified technicians from China, they simply cross the border to Lesotho. Lesotho is the number one exporter of apparel to the U.S under AGOA, having established one of the largest textiles & garment manufacturing industry in sub-Saharan Africa. Setipa emphasised the need for continuous improvement of the doing-business environment, like setting up a one stop shop for investors to access services in one place, as is the case in his country. He said Lesotho owes its success in AGOA to improving the doing-business environment.

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