BPOPF�s delicate balancing act
Friday, September 25, 2015
Boitumelo Molefe PIC.KENNEDY RAMOKONE
Sitting on an asset base worth as much as P51 billion ($5 billion), the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) is one of the largest pension funds in sub-Saharan Africa. About 35 percent of these funds are invested in Botswana.
Although BPOPF is above the regulatory 30 percent onshore investments threshold, market sentiment, which came to the fore during the recent liquidity shortages in the banking system, is that more pension funds should be brought back home to spur the domestic economy rather than promote the growth of foreign economies.
It is a clear signal that the government’s purse is empty and that our own behaviour has left veterinary officials fighting with one hand tied behind their backs. We have been here before. During COVID-19, many of us thought we knew better. We ignored simple rules, we carried on as if the danger was someone else’s problem, and the virus took lives and left our economy on its knees. We are still broke from that experience. Yet now, with FMD...