Botswana’s economy is on a gridlock.
There is an urgent need for economic revival.
Any further delays will lead to the economy losing its grip even further.
During a crunch, economies that are more resilient are often those that that have inbuilt dynamism.
For Botswana, such dynamism has often been provided by the mining sector, especially diamond mining.
But over the last few years the country’s mining industry too has had to go through troubles of its own..
Indications are that the sector is on a rebound, but whatever recovery has happened is not sufficient to make the sector strong enough to support the entire economic truss of the country.
Some kind of inorganic relief is needed to jumpstart the economy and get it working again.
After shedding thousands of jobs and consumers pulling back, not many really know what will be next.
The economic Stimulus Package, announced two years ago did very little to boost the economy.
If anything the money went straight into the pockets of corrupt officials, or at best flowed out of the country into South Africa where most of the construction outputs are often purchased.
Many people do not believe that the economy will on its own, without deliberate assistance from Government correct.
But the problem though is that Botswana does not have the stashes of cash reserves that it used to have.
A way has to be found to establish consumer confidence.
That is possible to achieve even within Botswana’s traditional culture of financial and economic prudence.
Creating and protecting jobs should be a priority.
Too many investors have been turned off in the past few years by delays in getting their work and residence permits processed.
While Batswana are well certificated, too many of them still lack skills and relevant work experience, especially in technical fields.
Getting skilled people has been a real hassle for many companies.
Many such skilled people have been turned away in the last few years ÔÇô either upon lapse of their permits when they tried to renew or simply when they tried to get into Botswana for the first time.
The deterioration in employment levels has now reached shocking levels.
In the past we talked of unemployment as a potential security threat.
Today it has attained the levels when it should be emphatically categorised as such.
The country’s financial position is not any enviable either.
While diamonds sales have been slowly picking up, it will be a long time, if at all, before they reach previous heights.
President Mokgweetsi has rightfully identified youth unemployment as his top priority.
The onus is on him now to put in place systems that would create sustainable jobs.
It will require a lot of nerve to get it right.
There is no doubt that there will also be more pain before gain.
But coming up with a clear-eyed strategy on how the president intends to turn the economy around cannot be postponed any further.
Masisi has to accept that the world has changed.
He needs to admit that so Botswana has to change.
He should be brave to come up with new policies in the full knowledge that what policies served Botswana so well in the past no longer do the same.
Tweaking with the economy sometimes can work wonders.
But in the culture of such depressed labour productivity, it can only go so far.
The President should hinge his economic ideas on improving productivity.
