LET PRIVATE SECTOR DRIVE GROWTH, SAYS CHOPPIES CEO

Choppies Chief Executive Officer Ramachandran Ottapathu has called on government to give businesses greater freedom to operate, arguing that the push for economic diversification will require a bigger role for private capital and less state involvement in commercially viable activities.

Speaking during a panel discussion at an Absa Corporate and Investment Banking client engagement this week, Ottapathu said the private sector had yet to see the scale of economic change anticipated, despite expectations of a more business-friendly approach.

“So far, to be blunt, we haven’t seen major changes,” he said.

Ottapathu said businesses remain constrained by what he described as years of increasing regulation, while private-sector participation in decisions affecting the business environment has remained limited.

“The past 7 or 8 years, it’s been regulation after regulation after regulation,” he said, arguing that new rules had often been introduced without sufficient consideration of their impact on businesses or adequate consultation with the private sector.

His criticism extended beyond regulation to the role of government in the economy.

Ottapathu argued that scarce public resources should be concentrated on essential services such as healthcare, education, water and road infrastructure, while commercially viable activities should increasingly be opened to private investment.

He used airline operations as an example, arguing that where private investors are able to operate a commercial business, government capital could instead be redirected towards healthcare, education and maintaining public infrastructure.

For Ottapathu , giving private businesses more room to operate would not mean withdrawing government from areas where the public interest requires continued state involvement.

He said spending on services such as water, hospitals and education could be justified even where financial returns are limited, given their wider importance to the economy and society.

The distinction, he argued, should be between essential public services and commercial activities capable of attracting private capital.

Ottapathu also criticised what he described as limited private-sector involvement in economic policymaking, including during the national budget process.

However, he acknowledged that the relationship between businesses and policymakers may be beginning to shift.

Ottapathu said the Ministry of Finance had recently stepped up consultation with the private sector, with officials engaging businesses on some policy decisions and making adjustments in certain areas.

Despite those early signs, Ottapathu maintained that broader reforms would be required to strengthen business confidence and allow the private sector to play a larger role in investment and job creation.

He argued that Botswana already possesses much of the institutional foundation needed to accelerate growth, adding that the country’s relatively small economy means significant reforms could have a sizeable impact on employment and incomes.