The Economic Recovery Support Program II (ERSP II), which was approved by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 2022 for $137 million, has yet to see any funds disbursed, according to the latest report by the Bank.
This information is detailed in a concept note by the Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV) at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), which is conducting a Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) of the 2022-2026 Country Strategy Paper (CSP) for Botswana.
According to the concept note, the Bank’s investments in Botswana are generally concentrated in three operational areas: multisector (69.1 percent), finance (17.4 percent), and agriculture (12.7 percent). However, it also states that a significant portion of the lending portfolio, including the Economic Recovery Support Program II, has not been disbursed.
“Specifically, the disbursement rate for the Economic Recovery Support Program II has stood at zero percent (0 percent) since its approval in 2022 while all the other three lending operations implemented during the reference period have reached a disbursement rate of 100 percent,” the concept note says.
The goal of ERSP II was to support resilience and post-COVID-19 pandemic inclusive economic recovery through improved governance and real sector structural reforms. The three components continue improving fiscal efficiency and sustainability, supporting private sector-led Agriculture, and industrial sector transformation and enhancing resilience and social inclusion. Regarding the beneficiaries of the loan, AFDB stated that “On account of pre-existing gender-based inequalities, youth and women will likely have experienced more difficulty during the pandemic; the program will help to address some of these challenges.”
Other operations that the Bank has worked on with various institutions that have not materialised include i) Botswana Transport Support Program for mainly financing studies for Rail and Road linkage projects, ii) support to the Botswana Stock Exchange to execute key capital markets development activities; and iii) women-led enterprises. These were also being prepared as technical assistance projects with a total resource envelope of UA 6.15 million.
It says there is also a considerable focus on energy and climate change support through technical assistance although the resources for these operations are below 1 percent of the total volume of resources.
AFDB says the Mid-Term Evaluation of the Botswana CSP will help in deriving lessons that could refine the implementation approach for the remainder of the CSP period and inform future CSPs.
It says the indicative lending program for the CSP 2022-2026 consists of four projects, namely: (i) Pandamatenga Agriculture Infrastructure Project, (ii) Botswana Development Corporation Line of Credit, (iii) Economic Recovery Support Program (ERSP), (iv) Economic Recovery Support Program (ERSP) Phase II.
The total portfolio for these lending operations amount to UA 341.2 million. The non-lending program comprises six operations, namely: (i) Botswana Support to Economic Diversification Technical Assistance, ii) Zambezi Integrated Agro-Commercial Development Project; iii) Botswana Renewable Energy Support Program, iv) Botswana Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Program, v) PPP Capacity Strengthening Project, and vi) Support Botswana to develop LT low carbon, climate- resilient strategy (LTS).
