Gov't commits to unlock productivity to drive economy
Larona Makhaiza | Wednesday June 25, 2025 09:00
Deputy Permanent Secretary (DPS) in the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs (MLHA), Tshepo Nkwadi, revealed this during the World Productivity Day commemoration last Friday.
Celebrated under the theme ‘From Ideas to Impact: Protecting Intellectual Property for Competitive Startups’, she said the day offers a platform to reflect on the role of productivity in economic development, improved livelihoods, and sustainable growth.
“This is the day that as a nation we need to reflect on and recognise the significance of productivity at individual, corporate, and national level because Botswana aspires to escape the middle income trap and achieve prosperity for all its citizens,” Nkwadi said.
She added that to achieve this desire, Botswana aspires to be a high income economy that does not depend solely on imports for most goods and services like the country operates currently.
“In the same vein, Botswana aspires to be a high income country with an export-led economy underpinned by diversified inclusive and sustainable growth driven by high levels of productivity,” the DPS said.
However, Nkwadi acknowledged that the country has been grappling with significant challenges in productivity and competitiveness, ranging from increasing unemployment rates amongst others.
“Botswana has been struggling with productivity and consistent with this reality is a situation analysis conducted by BIDPA in 2023 outlined different challenges in Botswana’s productivity landscape,” she said.
Nkwadi said the challenges are “lack of policy framework for addressing productivity and competitiveness issues, fragmentation in efforts towards resolving productivity challenges as well as deterioration in the national value system, leading to poor work ethics and poor performance across economic sectors”.
Moreover, the DPS said recent global rankings have shown that Botswana is declining in global competitiveness with the country ranked 59th out of 69 in the 2025 Institute of Management Development (IMD) report.
In response to these concerns Nkwadi said the ministry has embarked on a project to combat this.
“Considering these challenges my ministry embarked on a project in collaboration with European Union and developed the draft National Productivity and Competitiveness Policy, Strategy, and Implementation plan which was presented and approved by Cabinet and will be presented in Parliament,” she said.
Additionally, government is in the process of transforming the Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC) through a merger with the Botswana Public Service College and IDM, to create a single National Productivity Organisation.
The revamped institution will spearhead implementation of the new policy, drive efficiency, and support broader economic development efforts.