Botswana’s Vice President and Minister of Finance, Ndaba Gaolathe, has outlined what he called “a new economic path” under the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP). Addressing media and financiers, he said the programme aims to steer national efforts toward a “digitally enabled, export-led, and diversified high-income economy.” The BETP centres on six economic sectors—Tourism, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Financial Services and Digitalisation, Energy and Mining, and Infrastructure—and three social priorities: Healthcare, Education and Social Protection. Gaolathe said each area has been aligned to a long-term “True North,” which he described as the country’s unified direction of travel.
Gaolathe said the BETP consolidates projects that have previously stalled due to coordination or regulatory constraints. Examples he highlighted included the A1 Highway upgrade, Milk Valley Farm, Chobe-Zambezi and the National Digital ID. He said these initiatives are now moving forward under a single execution framework.
He also noted that implementation will require sustained discipline, adding that “success is defined not by what we envision, but by what we deliver.” The programme includes a P514 billion project pipeline over the next decade, with 60 percent earmarked for private-sector leadership. Gaolathe said investor interest had emerged in projects such as Xinii Resort, TEMCO Hospital, the Centre for Nuclear Medicine & Theragnostic, the Glen Valley Wastewater Plant redevelopment and the expansion of Maun Airport. He added that findings from project labs are shaping proposed amendments to the Energy Act, Environmental Assessment Act and Agrochemicals Act.
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A BETP Secretariat is being established to coordinate implementation and report to senior leadership. Gaolathe said the programme draws on 6,925 public submissions, refined into 186 projects through four-week BETP Labs. He encouraged financiers, media and citizens to engage with the newly launched BETP digital portal for project information.
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