The Mayor of Francistown Sylvia Muzila has urged the insurance sector to cater for the marginalised classes. According to Muzila, the financial sector mainly caters for the formal sector whilst neglecting the unbanked and those working in the informal sector.
Although she applauded the significant leaps that the financial sector has made over the past two decades, Muzila said there is a lot that needs to be done to incorporate all classes of the economy. According to Muzila, “the financial services sector has contributed to the much needed diversification” drive in the country and has created the much neeed jobs.
Muzila also did not shy away from encouraging Batswana to stop the habit of taking loans in order to fund their lifestyles. She said it is disheattening that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had done surveys which showed that the level of household debt in Botswana is higher than global trends, while the level of savings is substantially lower. She earnestly encouraged Batswana to save money in order to be financially secure, rather than always taking loans at the banks.
She also lamented over the fact that the insurance sector contributes just about 4% to the gross domestic product, and encouraged the citizenry to adopt creative ways to make ends meet and to adjust their lifestyles to make adequate provision for the future.
For her part, Bona Life Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Regina Sikalesele-Vaka said most citizens were unable to buy insurance cover as a result of unemployment. She shared the same sentiments that, “Many financial solutions are available for the formally employed but not the informally employed, the unemployed or the lower income earners thus widening the social divisions.”
