Business decries slow pace of reforms

Lindiwe Mozola | Wednesday March 22, 2017 15:00

During a Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC) consultative workshop held recently, members of the business community noted that the implementation of these reforms has been long talked about but to date things are still the same making doing business in Botswana difficult.

The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) principal industrial officer, Tidimalo Sitang said in her presentation that the government has been rolling the ball on the reforms and some of those reforms are in place although it is slow to implement them.

She said they hope that with time doing business in Botswana will meet the international standards.

“The government is very aware that the business reforms will reduce the cost of doing business in Botswana hence promoting investor friendly climate and reduce frustrations businesspeople face in order to make an investment or start a business.

For instance, starting a business in Botswana takes at least 48 days while in countries like Singapore that continues to be ranked the best in the Global Competitiveness Index it takes exactly one day to establish a business,” she said.

Sitang stated that some of the reforms implemented include online application, reduced time to import and export among others.

On their part the stakeholders decried that although the MITI presentation outlines those business reforms, they still do not apply in other places as they still go through long and tedious processes.

Ceramic Tile Market (CTM) representative, Michael Kabelo said over the years the government has been preaching about the business reforms but things still remain the same.

He said many regulations kill business in Botswana and drive away investors and the government seems not to be moved by that where else it reflects badly on the economy of the country.

“The government should eliminate unnecessary regulations to avoid driving away investors as well as killing the hope of young Batswana who want to start businesses,” he said.

Palapye Standard Chartered Bank branch manager, Philip Setiko also said regulatory overreach kills more especially small businesses stating that by virtually all measurements, the health of the overall economy is highly dependent on the growth of the small business sector.

BNPC regional manager, Tshenolo Mapitse said although there is a long way to go, the government’s efforts are notable as Botswana has improved its ranking on the Global Competitiveness Index to number 64 out of 1348 countries from position 71 out of 140 countries previously.

He further stated that Batswana need to embrace and take advantage of the business reforms implemented by the government.