Botswana urged to embrace foreign investment

Keikantse Lesemela | Friday February 21, 2014 16:39

Motlhale said the country must look at the developed countries that have gone through economic instability and find out how they have solved the problem. “We need to find out what they have done to develop their economy”.

He said the government should look for investment outside Botswana and embrace foreigners who want to invest in Botswana as they have special skills, which can be transferred to citizens. “We should embrace foreigners, especially those with skills because they can help us develop our economy. This is done by developed countries like the United Kingdom and Canada”, said Motlhale.He argued that the government is reluctant to support private companies, especially foreigners.

“Sometime in 2007 a solar power company approached us, and they had the capacity to produce 200 MW per hour but they were never responded to because the minister responsible said they were demanding unreasonable returns.

Sometimes one can wonder how we have our priorities, this indicates that we are not giving the private sector an opportunity to take part in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) ”.

However, Botswana is cited among the leading global innovators in the critical areas of the ease of starting business.

Ease of doing business Index last placed Botswana at 56 out of 181 countries in 2013, according to the World Bank Report.

The World Bank, which has previously scolded Botswana for bottlenecks in doing business, has elevated the country from 65 in 2013 to 56th position globally in the Bretton Woods’ institution annual Ease of Doing Business report for 2014.

Botswana is among the economies that made the greatest improvement for ease of doing business, according to the latest annual global survey by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and World Bank, published earlier this week.

The researchers found that in 2013, Botswana made paying taxes more costly for companies by increasing the profit tax rate while in 2010 registering property in Botswana was made more difficult with the addition of a procedure where the tax agency must be notified of the VAT payment.

The most business-friendly regulatory environments are Hong Kong, China; New Zealand; the United States; Denmark; Malaysia; the Republic of Korea; Georgia; Norway; and the United Kingdom.