Saturday, February 8, 2025

Butale urges Botswana to warm up to investors

As red tape in host countries constitutes a significant obstacle to investment flows across international borders, an important policy question is: what can aspiring FDI destinations do to attract investors? Concerned by this unfortunate situation, Member of Parliament for Tati west Biggie Butale has urged Government to roll out the red carpet for investors. His notion came about as notable prospective and potential investors received a cold reception when they visited the country recently.

“I know of the two billionaires who visited the country in recent months, only for them to receive a cold reception from the Government.  We should do away with this attitude. Prospective and potential investors need a red carpet…a VIP treatment to lure them into setting mega businesses in the country,” argued Butale responding to the Ministry of Trade and Industry budget for 2016/17 Thursday.

He also added that, “Foreign investors should feel we want them. They should feel that we are not doing them favours”.

He reiterated that foreign investors bring in the much needed expertise and capital.

“So this calls for a change of mindset for this country. It calls for a change of work ethics,” the legislator said.

Butale also urged the government to set employment targets as this helps to set standards for foreign investors. “If such targets exist, i am not aware of them. They should be published for everyone to see,” he said.

The budget for the Ministry of Trade and Industry is expected to be endorsed next week with recurrent budget estimated at P491 639 278 while the development budget is estimated at P31 050 000.

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