Work ethic still major productivity hurdle � BNPC
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Thursday March 16, 2017 15:22
Speaking during a seminar on the Botswana’s international competitiveness updates here, Thobokwe noted that poor work ethic in the labour force still remains the leading concern for doing business in the country.
She also listed access to financing, followed by an inadequately educated workforce and inadequate supply of infrastructure as other concerns.
Thobokwe said some of the key challenges that hinder productivity of business in the country, include innovation and business sophistication.
“We have identified some of the issues, which delay productivity and such include high dependency on government, lack of standardised processes, poor quality of goods, services and production levels and inadequate bookkeeping and professionalism,” she said.
Her other area of concern is the country’s education system, which is not aligned to the industry needs.
She further said most of the graduates from local tertiary institutions do not carry the qualifications required by different industries across the country.
Thobokwe also said the competitiveness study, which is conducted annually by the World Economic Forum, indicated that Botswana has been improving in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI).
She further said that the 2016-2017 GCI shows that Botswana is ranked 64 out of 138 countries, scoring 4.3 points, which is a great improvement.
“Previously Botswana was ranked 71 out of 140 economies, scoring 4.2 (points). The quality score improved by 2.3%, which was from 4.2 to 4.3 out of 7,” she said.
Thobokwe further said their best rank is the macro economic pillar, which is 10 out of 138 countries.
She added that the goods market efficiency pillar is also the most improved rank at 73 scoring 4.3 from position 95 with a 4.1 score in 2015.
She indicated that technological readiness upgraded from position 91 scoring 3.3 in 2015 to position 86 scoring 3.6 in the years 2016 and 2017. She said even though Botswana is improving in the GCI, the country still has a long way to go as it is still at the factor driven phase, which is the first stage of development.
She added that Botswana is left with the efficiency-driven and innovation-driven stages. When giving a presentation on the progress update on business initiative, a Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry representative, Tebo Motswagae said Botswana is declining in its business ranking, moving from position 52 in 2011 to 65 in 2013.
He indicated that the ranking was then reversed in 2014 improving to position 56, but then later declined again to rank number 71 in 2016.
He added that work permits through the immigration offices are difficult to obtain, which makes it harder to attract foreign investors.
He said some recommendations of doing business reform roadmap have to do with both legal and administrative reforms, which include limiting the number of licences and permits, providing standardised deeds, reducing the number of documents for imports and exports, adopting the use of Unique Identification Number (UIN), just to mention but a few.