Govt pushes for P4bn EDD procurement target

MBONGENI MGUNI
Staff Writer | Tuesday May 14, 2013 00:00

 

On Tuesday, Trade and Industry Minister Dorcas Makgato-Malesu told journalists that of the P2.26 billion in procurement between April and December 2012, 54 percent or P1.2 billion was attributable to local manufacturers and service providers.

Government hopes to raise its procurement from local manufacturers and service providers to P2.5 billion by March 31, 2013 being the end of the 2012/13 financial year. It is also pushing for overall EDD purchases to close at P4 billion from the P2.26 billion as at end of December 2012.'I believe that we are doing very well and you can see that there's growth,' Makgato-Malesu said. 'Our focus is getting that P2.26 billion to P4 billion by April. I will be telling you very soon how these figures have improved on a year on year basis.' According to the trade ministry's data, EDD procurement from local retailers reached P780.7 million between April and December 2012, while purchases from foreign suppliers was pegged at P230 million.

Makgato-Malesu explained that the EDD's focus was on the local manufacturing sector and service providers.'While local retailers are included, the manufacturing and service sectors are where the jobs will be created,' she said.

'The EDD is about speeding up diversification of the whole economy. The country has been talking about this for years and we believe that each and everyone has been trying to do that. However, the EDD brings these efforts together and that's why we call it a drive'. Overall, the EDD aims to diversify the economy by enhancing the productive capacity and competitiveness of local industry using government procurement as the spearhead. After rigorous testing, local enterprises are awarded EDD certificates and qualify for both government procurement and other preference schemes under the initiative.

Makgato-Malesu revealed that by December 2012, 584 enterprises had been issued with EDD certificates, up from the 506 announced by President Ian Khama in his State of the Nation address a month earlier.'We don't want briefcase companies or those that simply source products from outside the country and supply them here,' she said.

'If you are a manufacturer, we would want to go and see where you are and establish your capacity so that government ministries and departments know where you are (for future procurement). At some point, we would want to see to what extent government purchasing power would have contributed to your growth.'

Of the 584 EDD enterprises, 300 are manufacturers, 276 service providers and the balance being agricultural producers. Small enterprises make up about 80 percent of the total figure, followed by medium and large ones.