Resource information
The objective of the Botswana Investment
Climate Assessment (ICA) is to evaluate the investment
climate in Botswana in all its operational dimensions and
promote policies to strengthen the private sector. The
investment climate is made up of the many location specific
factors that shape the opportunities and incentives for
firms to invest productively, create jobs, and expand. These
factors include macroeconomic and regulatory policies; the
security of property rights and the rule of law; and the
quality of supporting institutions such as physical and
financial infrastructure. The main sources of information
for the ICA are two firm-level surveys. The first survey
covered Small, Medium, and Large Enterprises (SMLEs) with
five or more employees in retail trade, manufacturing, and
other services. The second covered micro enterprise with
fewer than five employees in the same sectors. Information
from the survey is supplemented with information from other
sources, including the doing business report; analytical
reports by the World Bank, the international monetary fund,
other international organizations and the Government of
Botswana; and academic papers and reports. Although the
analysis in this report suggests that there are some areas
where the investment climate might be improved, it is
important to note none of these problems with the possible
exception of worker skills appear to be particularly
debilitating. This suggests that other factors are probably
also playing a role. One such factor is likely to be the
small size (in terms of population) and remoteness of the
economy. Another factor is the effect that is the
macroeconomic effects of the large mining economy has on the
competitiveness of the rest of the economy. Improving living
standards and cutting poverty depends on broad-based
economic growth, which will only take place when firms
improve worker productivity by investing in human and
physical capital and technological capacity. But firms will
only invest when the investment climate is favorable.
