Boko`s quest to end blanket subsidies
Lewanika Timothy | Friday November 14, 2025 11:11
Delivering his State of the Nation Address (SONA) this week, President Duma Boko stood on a different ground from his predecessors. Those who occupied the first office before him stood on the confidence of booming government accounts, a surging diamond industry that allowed them to dream, implement, and dream again.
With national accounts at record lows, unemployment at record highs, the President had to make an admission that his predecessors afforded to brushed off. The government cannot keep up with its high subsidy financial costs.
The President announced that the government was undertaking a review of its social protection mechanisms and policies with the mission to use targeted testing interventions to identify those who deserve social welfare and those who don’t.
“Government is undertaking a comprehensive overhaul of the social protection system with a focus on efficiency and sustainability. This includes the operationalisation of a Single Social Registry (SSR), for beneficiary registration and introduction of Proxy Means Testing to ensure that support reaches those most in need,” the president said.
The Single Social Registry seeks to avoid double-dipping in social welfare programs, as well as assess whether beneficiaries who receive social welfare programs are deserving as per the standards set by policy outlines. The tricky part, however, is that Botswana has soaring levels of unemployment, and many members of the society are catching the hands of an economy with shrinking opportunities. While unemployment soars, the ripple effect is increased poverty levels and more and more Batswana failing to survive. Determining who deserves help in an economy where over 70% of the population is dependent on government welfare will be an Achilles ' heel for the SSR.
Blanket subsidies are government financial aid programs that provide benefits to everyone in a population, regardless of their income or need. This approach differs from targeted subsidies, which direct funds specifically to low-income households or vulnerable groups.
The National Development Plan 12 made the concession that the government was worried about the heavy dependence of citizens on social welfare due to public expenditure concerns about their long-term financial sustainability.
The NDP also revealed that from a national population of 2.3 million, a total of 1.6 million individuals benefit from various social protection programmes across ministries
One of the NDP12 strategies to reduce over-dependence on government is the introduction of a contributory social protection scheme. The project is expected to shift Batswana from social assistance to contributory social security, easing fiscal pressure and ensuring long-term sustainability. Botswana has operated as a social welfare state for years, with its erstwhile founding fathers being led by a social democracy dogma, a principle that places the people at the center of development. While this developmental model has helped achieve a social parity of sorts with high literacy levels and free access to amenities, the nation reels in high levels of dependency on the government.
Blanket subsidies have not just been a citizen affair; some arms of government have also benefited from an unending fiscus shield, with some state-owned entities surviving year on year due to government handouts.
Most economic sectors have been kept allegro by subsidies from the government, which have cost the government billions in state-owned entities bailouts. Amenities like water, electricity have been kept at artificially affordable prices due to billions of government subsidies, all to shield consumers from the real price of these services, something which has led to wastage in public finance
The Ministry of Finance announced plans to spend P150 million more on state-owned entities in this financial year, including millions more in fresh bailouts for organisations such as Air Botswana and the National Development Bank..
The government made intentions to give Air Botswana additional support of P65 million in the upcoming financial year, over and above an extra P569 million granted in the 2024–2025 financial year.
The two-year Transitional National Development Plan (TNDB) had originally allocated Air Botswana a support budget of P133 million, which was later increased to P702 million last year. The Finance ministry is proposing a further increase of P65 million to P767 million.