The Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr. Ndaba Nkosinathi Gaolathe, has called for accelerated economic diversification to secure sustainable growth and job creation.
Speaking at the 2026/2027 General Stakeholders Budget Pitso today, Mr. Gaolathe emphasised the need for a simultaneous repositioning of Botswana’s economy towards diversification and employment generation.
He noted that the economic model that will take Botswana forward cannot be based on the assumption that government will always be the primary driver, financier, and customer of economic activity.
The Vice President urged stakeholders to bring forward transformative projects that build industries, solve real problems, create jobs, and generate export earnings.
“We need an economy where entrepreneurs build factories that serve households, where firms produce and compete, and where value chains deepen," he noted.
Mr. Gaolathe further indicated that Botswana is navigating a difficult economic period, not only because the pressures are severe, but also because they are structural in nature. He noted that global uncertainty remains high, markets are increasingly volatile, and economic growth is uneven. The central reality in Botswana is that the economic model that sustained the country for decades anchored largely on diamonds therefore the central role of government cannot carry the nation into the next decades in the same way.
