Botswana

Botswana has been one of the worlds
fastest growing economies over the past 50 years, allowing
the country to move from being among the poorest to upper
middle income status - this has had the effect of pulling
the majority of the population out of poverty. While
Botswana is rightly praised for its management of resource
wealth, it is apparent that the high levels of investment by
government (in health, education, and infrastructure) are
not delivering quality outcomes, making it increasingly
difficult to meet the objectives of growth, diversification,
and poverty elimination. Indeed, some of the foundations
which drove the development success of Botswana over the
past half century are being eroded or face risks. In this
context, this systematic country diagnostic (SCD) is
intended to assess the priorities for Botswana to make rapid
progress in achieving the objectives of: (i) elimination of
extreme poverty on a sustainable basis; and (ii) ensuring
shared prosperity by improving the welfare of the
less-well-off in the country. It includes individual
chapters analyzing the opportunities and challenges to
meeting these objectives with respect to: growth;
inclusiveness; and sustainability. The SCD concludes with a
prioritization of the key challenges.