Botswana Insurance Fund Management Limited (Bifm) hosted institutional clients and stakeholders for yet another successful event, the 2022 Bifm Breakfast Seminar. The theme for this year’s seminar was ‘Global Inflation and the Role of Alternative Investments within Client Portfolios’.
Bifm CEO Neo Bogatsu says “this theme was necessitated by the high global inflation and interest rate environment and the challenge in generating positive real returns in such an environment”. The event featured Patrick Buthelezi, an Economist from Sanlam Specialised Finance. Buthelezi highlighted the key drivers of global inflation and why it is a major concern for central banks around the world. He noted that central banks’ monetary policy faced the challenging trade-off between fighting soaring inflation and safeguarding post COVID-19 pandemic recovery. He closed by reflecting that inflation was expected to peak in 2H2022. However, it was anticipated to slow down in 2023, and central banks were therefore likely to shift their priority to stimulating economic growth, from 2023.
In addition to the presentation on global inflation, the event had a panel discussion, which unpacked the merits and potential risks of alternative investments to retirement funds. The panel discussion was facilitated by Bogatsu, and comprised of Mumba Musunga – Portfolio Manager – African Life Financial Services, Zambia, Lame Botshoma – Chief Investment Officer, Designate – Strategic Wealth, Ati Mannathoko – Chief Operations Officer – Alex Forbes, and the Bifm Chief Investment Officer, Khalil Modarissi.
The panel discussion also sparked discussions on the possible effects of the new Retirement Funds bill. The discussions were centred on the local market’s readiness, given the impending increase to the minimum assets retirement funds would be required to invest in Botswana, from the current 30 percent to 50 percent. The morning was capped with a presentation by Botlhe Tshukudu, Portfolio Manager – Unlisted Investments, speaking to alternatives in the context of Botswana and the role played by Bifm.
