CA urged to ensure healthy markets
Staff Writer | Friday April 12, 2019 13:39
He said their healthy function is one way of driving prosperity for all towards the attainment of the Vision 2036 Pillar goals of high-income status, as Botswana transitions into a knowledge-based economy and society.
Totolo was guest speaker at the CA’s symposium held at Avani Hotel earlier today.
The BIUST leader emphasised the importance of a well functioning market as this is where business happens, jobs are created and incomes and overall social welfare is improved.
The academic described the ideal business environment as one that embodies attributes of perfect competition such as many buyers and sellers, free entry and exit, symmetric information and producing similar goods.
The BIUST leader further said the perfect market for businesses should enable businesses to produce a wide variety of quality goods and services as efficiently as possible and at the lowest cost. Such markets, Totolo enthused, should also be attractive for buyers or consumers, enabling them to buy a wide variety of goods or services at the lowest possible price.
Efficient allocation of resources, such as land, labour and capital were also mentioned as ideal for a well functioning market that maximises social welfare.
However, Totolo described the real life business competition as far from utopian, but ever fiercely competitive and cutthroat, often seeing few players dominating the market or colluding in price-fixing in some instances.
The BIUST Vice Chancellor noted that it is due to this nature of competition that a regulatory body like the CA exists to bring order and ensure that competition is undertaken ethically and according to laid down rules and regulations.