Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Incentives, investment and economic diversification : the case of manufacturing development in Botswana

Includes bibliographical references.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mogapi, Sydney
Other Authors: Black, Anthony
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: School of Economics 2014
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613226380820480
access_status_str Open Access
author Mogapi, Sydney
author2 Black, Anthony
author_browse Black, Anthony
Mogapi, Sydney
author_facet Black, Anthony
Mogapi, Sydney
author_sort Mogapi, Sydney
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6773
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:46.693Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher School of Economics
publisherStr School of Economics
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6773 Incentives, investment and economic diversification : the case of manufacturing development in Botswana Mogapi, Sydney Black, Anthony Economics Includes bibliographical references. Botswana, which is widely known for its remarkable economic growth and prudent macro-economic management, was one of the poorest countries in the world prior to independence in 1966. The country was primarily a subsistence economy largely founded on agriculture, with a modicum of tourism. However, Botswana has since experienced rapid economic growth. This growth has been propelled by the mining sector, particularly the diamond industry. The reliance of Botswana on a single commodity has prompted the government to engage in efforts to diversify the economy. This objective has been an important thread in the country's economic policy since the 1980's and forms the key theme of recent national development plans. Due to a small domestic market, Botswana has embarked on a strategy to promote export orientated companies and the facilitation of Foreign Direct Investment, (FDI). Manufacturing, which is our primary focus, has been identified as a possible vehicle for economic growth and diversification, due to the fact that certain subsectors are labour intensive and could alleviate the country's pressing employment problem. We conducted a survey of fifteen manufacturing firms with the research objective of capturing their views on Botswana as an investment environment, the level of incentives, economic diversification and other related issues. The field research was based on individual interviews using a questionnaire. We argue that factors, which previous studies identified as impediments to investment in the manufacturing sector, have largely been addressed. However, we concur that investment into this sector has not been as high as expected. Although incentive programmes have been established to promote investment, particularly into the manufacturing sector, research on the effectiveness of incentives is inconclusive. We argue that these incentives have to be retained in their current form. In neighbouring countries the development of the manufacturing sector has frequently necessitated the establishment of Export Processing Zones (EPZs). EPZs have found support from institutions such as the World Bank. which regards them as a powerful signal of a country's departure from import substitution to being an export-orientated economy. It is this paper's contention that the establishment of an EPZ is not the best policy option for Botswana. We argue that the objectives of diversification can best be achieved through a multi-tiered investment promotion strategy that will raise awareness of Botswana as an investment destination, facilitate the entry of foreign firms into the country, and identify valuable projects. The investment promotion strategy should seek to raise awareness of Botswana as a preferred investment destination. 2014-08-30T05:59:17Z 2014-08-30T05:59:17Z 2003 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6773 eng application/pdf School of Economics Faculty of Commerce University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Economics
Mogapi, Sydney
Incentives, investment and economic diversification : the case of manufacturing development in Botswana
title Incentives, investment and economic diversification : the case of manufacturing development in Botswana
title_full Incentives, investment and economic diversification : the case of manufacturing development in Botswana
title_fullStr Incentives, investment and economic diversification : the case of manufacturing development in Botswana
title_full_unstemmed Incentives, investment and economic diversification : the case of manufacturing development in Botswana
title_short Incentives, investment and economic diversification : the case of manufacturing development in Botswana
title_sort incentives investment and economic diversification the case of manufacturing development in botswana
topic Economics
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6773
work_keys_str_mv AT mogapisydney incentivesinvestmentandeconomicdiversificationthecaseofmanufacturingdevelopmentinbotswana