We lead the pack in poverty reduction - Mogae

from Mmegi Online

BRIAN BENZA
STAFF WRITER

Poverty levels are expected to fall to an all time low of 23 percent by 2009 on the back of continued economic growth which has earned Botswana rave reviews as Africa's leader in poverty reduction, President Festus Mogae said in Parliament.

In his State of the Nation address on Monday, Mogae stated that economic growth, which averaged nine percent during the country's first four decades and now hovers around four percent, has pulled down poverty levels from as high as almost 60 percent two decades ago.

"Continued economic growth has contributed to a steady reduction in poverty from 59 percent in 1986 to 47 percent in 1994 to our latest figure of 30 percent," President Mogae said.

"Our progress has earned us the accolade of being a leader in poverty reduction. But clearly we still have some way to go."

As a manifestation of the reduced poverty levels, Mogae pointed out factors such as increased access to basic education, access to clean water, more infrastructure development and increased access to electricity. In the speech, which was his last national address before he retires next year, Mogae could not resist being thrilled by having been the main driving force behind Botswana's economic achievements, which are the envy of much of the developing world and the admiration of the more advanced economies.

The country's economic performance has received recognition from various international bodies including the Would Economic Forum, Mo Ibrahim Foundation, The World Bank, The United Nations Commission for Africa, the Heritage Foundation, Wall Street Journal, Standard and Poor's and Moody's Investors Services. "Where possible, we have sought to take advantage of such favourable comparative ratings in order to market our potential," the President said. "Leaders from Botswana, including myself, are periodically asked to share our country's experience with others.

"We have accepted this not because we wish to brag about our achievements, but in the enlightened self-interest of selling our country's potential."

But, said Mogae, such achievements need to be followed up; it is for this reason that government had set up marketing and investment arms such as the Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA), the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) and the Botswana Tourism Board. He noted that in its nine years of existence, BEDIA had raked in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) worth over P400 million.

Mining has been the largest contributor to the economic growth as mineral revenues have risen from P4 billion in 1997 to P13.3 billion in 2006.

Mogae said there were numerous efforts being put in place to diversify the economy and to empower Batswana. Among institutions championing this cause were the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) and Local Enterprise Authority (LEA).

The President also touched on the issue of privatisation and expressed government's commitment to it as spelled out in the Privatisation Policy Master Plan.

"If we delay the process of privatisation of public enterprises whose services can be better performed by the private sector, we will be doing ourselves a great disservice.

"Whilst privatisation will, at times, entail short-term costs, such as retrenchments, we must not be oblivious to its long-term benefits in terms of efficiency, sustainable employment, as well as higher quality services," Mogae said.