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Sub-Saharan Africa implemented 83 business reforms last year according to the Doing Business 2018 report by the World Bank.

Africa prioritising private sector development to boost growth – World Bank

Author: World Bank &amp; CNBC Africa
The World Bank Group’s latest Doing Business 2018: Reforming to Create Jobs report ranks New Zealand, Singapore and Denmark in first, second and third spots, respectively, followed by the Republic of Korea; Hong Kong SAR, China; United States; United Kingdom; Norway; Georgia; and Sweden. Mauritius, in 25th place is the highest ranked economy in Sub-Saharan Africa.
On Africa it revealed the following: Nigeria, Malawi and Zambia were among this year’s top 10 improvers, based on reforms undertaken. For the first time, the group of top 10 improvers includes economies of all income levels and sizes, with half being top improvers for the first time – El Salvador, India, Malawi, Nigeria, and Thailand.
Since its inception, Doing Business has recorded business reforms in 186 of the 190 economies it now monitors. Rwanda has implemented the highest number of business reforms over the past 15 years, with a total of 52 reforms, followed by Georgia, which advanced this year into the top 10 ranked economies (47 reforms) and Kazakhstan and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (41 reforms each).
&nbsp;
Fact Sheet: Sub-Saharan Africa
 What are the ranking trends? 
<ul>
<li>Mauritius, in 25th place in the Doing Business rankings, is the highest ranked economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Other economies in the region that perform well on the ease of doing business rankings are Rwanda (at 41), Kenya (80), Botswana (81) and South Africa (82).</li>
<li>The region’s lowest ranked economies are Somalia (190), Eritrea (189), South Sudan (187), and the Central African Republic (184).</li>
<li>Other large economies in the region and their rankings are Democratic Republic of Congo (182), Ethiopia (161), Nigeria (145), Tanzania (137), Sudan (170), and Uganda (122).</li>
<li>Rwanda ranks among the best globally in the Doing Business areas of Registering Property (with a rank of 2) and Getting Credit (6). In registering property, Rwanda has an efficient land registry where it takes 7 days to transfer property and costs only 0.1% of the property value, the same as in New Zealand.</li>
<li>Mauritius has among the least cumbersome business regulations in two Doing Business areas: Dealing with Construction Permits (with a rank of 9) and Paying Taxes (10).</li>
<li>Four economies in Sub-Saharan Africa rank in the top 10 in Getting Credit (with an average rank of 115). Zambia ranks 2, just after New Zealand, and Rwanda, Malawi and Nigeria all rank 6.</li>
<li>The region underperforms in the areas of Getting Electricity (with an average rank of 148), Trading Across Borders (137), and Registering Property (131). It takes an average of 115 days to obtain a permanent electricity connection to the grid in Sub-Saharan Africa, compared to the global average of 92 days.</li>
</ul>
 What are the reform trends?
<ul>
<li>A record number of 83 reforms, making it easier to do business, were implemented in 36 of 48 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa in the past year. This is the largest number of reforms ever recorded by the Doing Business report in any region, and represents 31 percent of all reforms implemented globally in in the past year.</li>
<li>With Malawi, Nigeria and Zambia, Sub-Saharan Africa is the most represented region among the global top 10 improvers in the Doing Business 2018</li>
<li>Multiple economies in the region implemented three or more reforms in the past year, including Kenya (6 reforms), Mauritania, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Senegal (5 reforms each), Malawi, Mauritius and Niger (4 reforms each), and Angola, Benin, Cabo Verde and Zambia (3 reforms each).</li>
<li>Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 14 of the 22 reforms globally in Dealing with Construction Permits. Many economies, including Benin, Cabo Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria and the Seychelles made dealing with construction permits easier by publishing regulations related to construction online.</li>
</ul>
What are the highlights of the past 15 years? 
<ul>
<li>Since the start of Doing Business, the region carried out a total of 798 reforms.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Rwanda has implemented the most reforms in the past 15 years, totaling 52, followed by Kenya (32) and Mauritius (31).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Starting a Business, with 163 reforms, was the leading indicator for regional reforms, followed by Getting Credit and Trading across Borders with 112 and 108 reforms respectively.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>the average number of days to start a business in the region has dropped to 22.5 days from 61 days in 2003.</li>
</ul>
Rankings Data for Sub-Saharan Africa
<table width="620">
<thead>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" width="235">Economy</td>
<td width="78">Rank 
(1–190)</td>
<td colspan="2" width="151">Distance to frontier score (0–100)</td>
<td colspan="2" width="156"># of Reforms </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="78">DB2018</td>
<td width="78">DB2017</td>
<td width="73">DB2018</td>
<td width="81">DB2017</td>
<td width="75">DB2018</td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="235">Angola</td>
<td width="78">175</td>
<td width="78">40.11</td>
<td width="73">41.49</td>
<td width="81">2</td>
<td width="75">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Benin</td>
<td width="78">151</td>
<td width="78">48.62</td>
<td width="73">50.47</td>
<td width="81">2</td>
<td width="75">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Botswana</td>
<td width="78">81</td>
<td width="78">64.87</td>
<td width="73">64.94</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Burkina Faso</td>
<td width="78">148</td>
<td width="78">51.34</td>
<td width="73">51.54</td>
<td width="81">3</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Burundi</td>
<td width="78">164</td>
<td width="78">46.86</td>
<td width="73">46.92</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Cabo Verde</td>
<td width="78">127</td>
<td width="78">55.82</td>
<td width="73">56.24</td>
<td width="81">0</td>
<td width="75">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Cameroon</td>
<td width="78">163</td>
<td width="78">45.05</td>
<td width="73">47.23</td>
<td width="81">2</td>
<td width="75">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Central African Republic</td>
<td width="78">184</td>
<td width="78">34.08</td>
<td width="73">34.86</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Chad</td>
<td width="78">180</td>
<td width="78">38.58</td>
<td width="73">38.30</td>
<td width="81">2</td>
<td width="75">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Comoros</td>
<td width="78">158</td>
<td width="78">48.05</td>
<td width="73">48.52</td>
<td width="81">2</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Congo, Dem. Rep.</td>
<td width="78">182</td>
<td width="78">37.43</td>
<td width="73">37.65</td>
<td width="81">2</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Congo, Rep.</td>
<td width="78">179</td>
<td width="78">40.09</td>
<td width="73">39.57</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Côte d&#8217;Ivoire</td>
<td width="78">139</td>
<td width="78">51.67</td>
<td width="73">53.71</td>
<td width="81">4</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Equatorial Guinea</td>
<td width="78">173</td>
<td width="78">39.89</td>
<td width="73">41.66</td>
<td width="81">2</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Eritrea</td>
<td width="78">189</td>
<td width="78">22.45</td>
<td width="73">22.87</td>
<td width="81">0</td>
<td width="75">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Ethiopia</td>
<td width="78">161</td>
<td width="78">45.69</td>
<td width="73">47.77</td>
<td width="81">0</td>
<td width="75">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Gabon</td>
<td width="78">167</td>
<td width="78">44.86</td>
<td width="73">46.19</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Gambia, The</td>
<td width="78">146</td>
<td width="78">51.93</td>
<td width="73">51.92</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Ghana</td>
<td width="78">120</td>
<td width="78">56.90</td>
<td width="73">57.24</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Guinea</td>
<td width="78">153</td>
<td width="78">49.48</td>
<td width="73">49.80</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Guinea-Bissau</td>
<td width="78">176</td>
<td width="78">41.22</td>
<td width="73">41.45</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Kenya</td>
<td width="78">80</td>
<td width="78">62.56</td>
<td width="73">65.15</td>
<td width="81">5</td>
<td width="75">6</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Lesotho</td>
<td width="78">104</td>
<td width="78">59.88</td>
<td width="73">60.42</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Liberia</td>
<td width="78">172</td>
<td width="78">40.45</td>
<td width="73">43.55</td>
<td width="81">0</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Madagascar</td>
<td width="78">162</td>
<td width="78">44.62</td>
<td width="73">47.67</td>
<td width="81">3</td>
<td width="75">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Malawi</td>
<td width="78">110</td>
<td width="78">52.61</td>
<td width="73">58.94</td>
<td width="81">3</td>
<td width="75">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Mali</td>
<td width="78">143</td>
<td width="78">52.62</td>
<td width="73">52.92</td>
<td width="81">3</td>
<td width="75">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Mauritania</td>
<td width="78">150</td>
<td width="78">49.32</td>
<td width="73">50.88</td>
<td width="81">4</td>
<td width="75">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Mauritius</td>
<td width="78">25</td>
<td width="78">75.45</td>
<td width="73">77.54</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Mozambique</td>
<td width="78">138</td>
<td width="78">53.03</td>
<td width="73">54.00</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Namibia</td>
<td width="78">106</td>
<td width="78">59.40</td>
<td width="73">59.94</td>
<td width="81">0</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Niger</td>
<td width="78">144</td>
<td width="78">50.08</td>
<td width="73">52.34</td>
<td width="81">6</td>
<td width="75">4</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Nigeria</td>
<td width="78">145</td>
<td width="78">48.18</td>
<td width="73">52.03</td>
<td width="81">2</td>
<td width="75">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Rwanda</td>
<td width="78">41</td>
<td width="78">70.19</td>
<td width="73">73.40</td>
<td width="81">4</td>
<td width="75">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">São Tomé and Príncipe</td>
<td width="78">169</td>
<td width="78">44.45</td>
<td width="73">44.84</td>
<td width="81">0</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Senegal</td>
<td width="78">140</td>
<td width="78">49.31</td>
<td width="73">53.06</td>
<td width="81">4</td>
<td width="75">5</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Seychelles</td>
<td width="78">95</td>
<td width="78">60.40</td>
<td width="73">61.41</td>
<td width="81">0</td>
<td width="75">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Sierra Leone</td>
<td width="78">160</td>
<td width="78">48.24</td>
<td width="73">48.18</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Somalia</td>
<td width="78">190</td>
<td width="78">20.29</td>
<td width="73">19.98</td>
<td width="81">0</td>
<td width="75">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">South Africa</td>
<td width="78">82</td>
<td width="78">64.97</td>
<td width="73">64.89</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">South Sudan</td>
<td width="78">187</td>
<td width="78">33.19</td>
<td width="73">32.86</td>
<td width="81">0</td>
<td width="75">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Sudan</td>
<td width="78">170</td>
<td width="78">44.29</td>
<td width="73">44.46</td>
<td width="81">0</td>
<td width="75">0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Swaziland</td>
<td width="78">112</td>
<td width="78">58.57</td>
<td width="73">58.82</td>
<td width="81">0</td>
<td width="75">2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Tanzania</td>
<td width="78">137</td>
<td width="78">53.93</td>
<td width="73">54.04</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Togo</td>
<td width="78">156</td>
<td width="78">48.24</td>
<td width="73">48.88</td>
<td width="81">4</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Uganda</td>
<td width="78">122</td>
<td width="78">56.52</td>
<td width="73">56.94</td>
<td width="81">3</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Zambia</td>
<td width="78">82</td>
<td width="78">60.58</td>
<td width="73">64.50</td>
<td width="81">1</td>
<td width="75">3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="235">Zimbabwe</td>
<td width="78">159</td>
<td width="78">47.67</td>
<td width="73">48.47</td>
<td width="81">3</td>
<td width="75">1</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Source: Doing Business database.
Note: The rankings are based on the average of each economy’s distance to frontier scores for the 10 topics included in this year’s aggregate ranking. This measure shows how close each economy is to global best practices in business regulation. A higher score indicates a more efficient business environment and stronger legal institutions.
http://cnbc.africa/news/western-africa/2016/04/25/nigeria-improvement-of-ease-of-doing-business/
http://cnbc.africa/news/2016/10/28/africa-doing-business/

Africa’s best, worst countries for doing business

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Investec Asset Management and RMB Ventures recently went fishing in Botswana. Their catch &#8211; Kamosa &#8211; a Botswana based retailer and consumers goods company. For more CNBC Africa is joined by Peter Baird, Head: African Private Equity, Investec.

Investec, RMB acquire stake in Botswana-based retailer

Botswana’s Choppies Enterprises, a budget retailer with operations in seven African countries, plans to open 40 more stores in the region by mid-2018 at a cost of about 300 million pula ($29 million).
Choppies plans to enter Namibia before December while expanding its presence in South Africa, Kenya, Zambia and Tanzania, Chief Executive Ramachandran Ottapathu told Reuters on Monday.
The retailer has 217 stores in the region, including operations in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
“We will enter Namibia for the first time before the year ends,” said Ottapathu, who holds a 20 percent stake in the Botswana-listed retailer.
“After a few years of losses, we are now making profits in South Africa,” he said, adding that he plans to expand in the eastern part of the country with 13 more stores.
The company is still operating below break-even in new markets such as Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia and Mozambique, he said.
($1 = 10.4603 pulas)

Botswana’s Choppies to open 40 new stores in region

Luke Messac | University of Pennsylvania
&nbsp;
In the Western press, the legacies of African leaders tend to hinge on their respect for term limits, property rights, and fiscal restraint. Since his death in June 2017, the late Quett Ketumile Masire, Botswana’s former Minister of Finance and Development Planning (1966-1980) and President (1980-1998), has been remembered largely in these terms.
A Washington Post obituary quoted former US President Bill Clinton, who in 1998 called Masire “an inspiration to all who cherish freedom.”
Even before Masire’s death, the literature on Botswana’s economic history was filled with praise for his leadership. A 1999 World Bank report hailed his government for its “fiscal discipline.” A Harvard Business School case study described Botswana under Masire as a stalwart of “prudent social and macroeconomic policies.”
All of this is quite true. But there is more to the story. Masire was also original and daring. While international financial institutions now praise his careful economic management, they often disagreed with his decisions and denied his requests. One of the most important (but little-mentioned) parts of Masire’s legacy was his commitment to invest in health and education programs even when the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) advised against it.
<h2>Fiscal prudence</h2>
Careful planning and hard work were central to Masire’s identity. With both his parents dead by the time he was 21 years of age, it fell to Quett Masire, the eldest son, to look after his siblings. He admitted to being a tough disciplinarian as manager of the family farm. As Botswana’s Minister of Finance and, later, as President, he made fiscal prudence a central tenet of policy making.
When diamond deposits were discovered shortly after Botwana’s independence in 1966, Masire insisted the government save a significant portion of its diamond revenues. He later wrote:
<blockquote>As farmers we have always known the importance of saving for a rainy day, or in our case for a dry day.</blockquote>
Development economists have applauded this practice, which allowed Botswana to escape the “resource curse” that has left many governments at the whim of volatile mineral prices.
But even the fiscally conservative Masire thought development institutions often took a too-narrow view of the determinants of growth. In the late 1960s, before Botswana was able to draw on mineral revenues to finance public spending, the new government sought foreign aid. When I interviewed Masire in November 2015, he recalled that while the World Bank would provide concessional loans for roads, bridges, power plants and factories, they would not finance health and education. Investments in social services, bank officials told Masire, could not provide a sufficient “rate of return.”
By the mid-1970s, World Bank President Robert McNamara and bilateral aid agencies showed greater enthusiasm for health and education. Breaking into a grin during our interview, Masire suggested that African leaders could claim some credit for this shift saying,
<blockquote>We would like to think we educated them. Because we said to them, look, without health, people cannot be productive. Without education, people cannot improve their production…It’s a long-term investment…So slowly, slowly, slowly, the penny dropped.</blockquote>
<h2>Health and education</h2>
Botswana, though, did not wait for this about-face. By the 1970s the government was collecting diamond revenues and, less reliant on donors, it steadily expanded access to health and education.
In 1968, Botswana’s government ran 12 hospitals, 16 health clinics, and no health posts. By 1998, it operated 30 hospitals, 222 clinics, and 330 health posts. The number of public secondary schools increased from 9 in 1966 to 261 in 1996.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-285463 size-medium" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Quett_Masire_detail_Wikemedia_YOUNG-242x300.jpeg" alt="" width="242" height="300" />
The real test came in the early 1980s when demand for commodities (including diamonds) plunged and interest rates soared. The IMF demanded its developing country borrowers adopt fiscal austerity.
Masire remained committed to fiscal prudence, but he disagreed with the IMF’s one-size-fits-all approach. He was, he later wrote, “determined” to use his government’s hard-won savings so that “development efforts should proceed and not be seriously interrupted.”
During the global debt crisis of the early 1980s, when diamond sales fell, Masire demonstrated why he had saved so diligently. Though Botswana was still poor enough to be eligible for an IMF loan, Masire declined the offer, and instead used the nation’s own reserves to successfully weather the downturn. Thanks to the government’s continued spending on social services, health and education outcomes continued to improve. The literacy rate rose from 34% in 1981 to 86.5% in 2014.
While numerous studies have demonstrated an adverse impact on maternal and child health following IMF programs, Botswana’s independent course allowed it to achieve sub-Saharan Africa’s second-lowest under-5 mortality rate by 1990.
<h2>The Masire legacy</h2>
What led Masire to depart from the prescriptions of the World Bank and IMF? In addition to framing health and education as integral to economic growth, Masire told me he was deeply affected by the poverty he witnessed during his childhood saying,
<blockquote>Some people suffered from malnutrition…and other people were sick but could not go to hospitals because of their dire poverty…We felt that whatever we did, we must factor in social justice.</blockquote>
President Masire’s tenure was not without failure. He came to openly regret his administration’s delayed response to HIV and Aids. By the mid-2000s, Botswana had one of the world’s highest HIV prevalence rates. Botswana remains a nation with tremendous income inequality, and the San people of the Kalahari Desert have long complained of mistreatment by the government.
Despite these profound challenges, Masire should be remembered for his courage as well as his prudence. He was eager to hear advice from near and far, and he helped Botswana to blaze an independent path. Today, the nation he led is the better for it. Long before academic economists and epidemiologists detailed the adverse health outcomes of IMF austerity policies, Masire understood – and avoided – the deadly consequences of slashing social services. In doing so he left an inspiring example not only for Africa, but for the world.

Masire: the president who left Botswana and the world an enduring legacy

Nic Cheeseman | University of Birmingham
There is much to celebrate as the world marks International Day of Democracy. The last year has seen important democratic breakthroughs in Africa. In Gambia an entrenched autocrat was forced from power. In Ghana, a sitting president lost an election for the first time.
In just the last few weeks, Kenya has also joined the club of precedent- setting nations, after the Supreme Court ruled that the election of President Uhuru Kenyatta was illegal and must be held again. Not only was this a first in Kenya, it was also the first time that the election of a sitting president had been overturned by the judiciary in Africa.
These changes reflect a broader trend in sub-Saharan Africa and much of the world. An increasing number of countries are holding multiparty elections. And an increasing proportion of these states have witnessed a transfer of power from one party or leader to another.
It’s true that more elections are now being held than at any time in human history. But recent highlights in Gambia, Ghana and Kenya mask a problematic reality, namely that the expansion of multi-party politics has often gone hand-in-hand with political and economic exclusion. Over the past five years, the level of political repression and economic inequality has increased in Africa. In turn, this has called into question the extent of the continent’s democratic gains.
<h2>Rising repression</h2>
In recent times high levels of repression have been witnessed across much of the continent. These include the arrest of opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, as he campaigned against his defeat in the 2016 presidential election in Uganda. Also, in Kenya there were a high number of human rights violations when security forces cracked down on opposition protests during the election.
According to Freedom House, an American think tank that rates the level of freedom in every country in the world, the quality of civil liberties in Africa has fallen every year for a decade. Seven out of the 15 countries that showed the biggest deterioration in the quality of their political environment over the last 12 months were African. They are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Niger, South Sudan, and Zambia. Next year, Tanzania may well join that list.
Other forms of political exclusion are also prevalent. Rwanda leads the world on female legislative representation while Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda also perform well on this metric. But very few women are ever elected in the continent’s largest states such as Angola, Nigeria and the DRC.
Minority groups often suffer a similar fate. In Botswana, a state often lauded as one of those leading on democratic rights in Africa, the indigenous San community have been largely excluded from the political process. Similarly, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer citizens typically find that their human rights are undermined. Fortunately, this is not true of countries with more progressive constitutions such as South Africa.
<h2>Rising inequality</h2>
In many states, political exclusion has gone hand in hand with rising economic inequality. As a result the relative poverty – the gap between the rich and the poor – is growing. This is despite the fact that the level of absolute poverty has fallen in a number of countries.
In other words, serious developmental gains are occurring at the same time that other forms of economic exclusion are intensifying.
One of the most stunning facts about the continent is that the <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi">Human Development Index</a> – a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators – shows that
<blockquote><a href="http://africasacountry.com/2017/01/african-inequality-rising/">every country in Africa is today less equal than it was in 2010</a>.</blockquote>
More worryingly, there is no evidence that democracies are performing better than authoritarian systems on this issue. If anything, the reverse is true. Indeed, one of the most intriguing paradoxes of African democracy is that it is those countries that are most democratic that are most unequal. Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa, three of the continent’s most secure democracies, feature the highest levels of inequality in the world.
The combination of political and economic exclusion in Africa is important for intrinsic and instrumental reasons. Intrinsically, democracy is failing to deliver if it is not helping the worst as much as the best off. Instrumentally, the combination of economic and political exclusion increases the risk that political grievances will develop into instability.
<h2>Building a more inclusive world</h2>
One reason that democratisation has not always reduced the degree of exclusion is that political systems in Africa, much like the rest of the world, tend not to feature inclusive political arrangements.
The continent only features a handful of states that are federal or feature high levels of political devolution. These include Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa and Sudan. Moreover, even within this small sample the ability of opposition parties to get elected at the sub-national level has often been limited, especially in Ethiopia and Sudan. As a result, individuals and groups that lose out in the race for national office rarely enjoy the kind of local self-government that might make them feel that they have a stake in the political system.
Institutional mechanisms to ensure a form of power sharing are also rare. By and large African states are presidential and highly majoritarian. They also do not feature constitutional provisions that guarantee minorities and losing parties a seat at the table.
Indeed, Burundi is currently the only country that comes close to the consociational “ideal type” of inclusive politics outlined by the famous political scientist Arendt Lijphart. But even there the authoritarian bent of President Pierre Nkurunziza has undermined both the letter and the spirit of the country’s carefully designed constitution.
Absent political representation, and with so few checks and balances on the exercise of power, it is unsurprising that minorities and opposition groups get such a raw deal. Of course, this is not to say that political inclusion is a cure-all: there are many established democracies with less exclusive political arrangements that have failed to reduce economic inequality. But until African political systems become less majoritarian and do a better job of protecting the rights and interests of minorities, the true benefits of democratic government are unlikely to be realised.
This article was first published in The Conversation.

Op-Ed: Democratic breakthroughs in Africa – time to celebrate but worries still linger

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised Botswana&#8217;s 2017 and 2018 economic growth forecast due to rising diamond demand, investment in the water and power sector and reforms to attract investment.
The IMF on Wednesday lifted diamond-producer&#8217;s 2017 and 2018 economic growth forecast to 4.5 and 4.8 percent respectively.
&#8220;The forecast assumes a gradual pace of reforms to improve the efficiency of the public sector and foster private sector activities,&#8221; the IMF said.
Following a downturn in 2015, growth is expected to gradually increase supported by a recovery in the diamond market and moderate fiscal stimulus, the IMF said in the report.
The latest forecast is higher than the IMF&#8217;s previous forecast for Botswana contained in its Africa regional economic outlook report released in April, which forecast growth at 4.1 percent in 2017 and 4.2 percent in 2018.
The IMF’s growth projection is more bullish than government forecasts. Finance Minister Kenneth Matambo said in February during the national budget presentation that the local economy was expected to grow by 4.2 percent this year.
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Writing by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by James Macharia
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IMF revises Botswana’s 2017 growth forecast

Ketumile Masire (2001): “This is the time to demonstrate to the world that, as fellow Africans, we are capable of working together so that we can all enjoy peace, freedom and dignity.”
FMF was saddened to hear of the death last week of statesman Sir Ketumile Masire, President of Botswana from 1980 to 1998. Masire is widely credited with transforming Botswana’s economy, and promoting democracy and inclusivity.
Sir Ketumile Masire was the recipient of the FMF’s 2000 Free Market Award for his “exceptional contribution to the cause of economic freedom”, presented in April 2001 at an event attended by Nelson Mandela.
Michael O’Dowd, then-FMF chairman, presenting the award, said: “Some people may think it strange that a free market organisation should be honouring somebody for his acts as the head of a government, but this is not so. It is true, unfortunately, that free market organisations spend a lot of time criticising the actions of governments but they are not opposed to governments as such. On the contrary, we fully realise that free markets can only exist under the aegis of a good government.”
In accepting the award, Masire said: “One of the key initiatives that I took before leaving office was to put in place the process of charting a long-term vision for Botswana.” Critical elements of Masire’s vision included: “…an educated and informed nation; a prosperous, productive and innovative nation; an open, democratic and accountable nation; a moral and tolerant nation…” He added: “This is critical for fostering an environment in which free and uninterrupted economic activity can take place.”
O’Dowd: “Over 35 years, Botswana has had the highest rate of economic growth in Africa &#8230; Botswana has proved that there is nothing about Africa, neither in the character of its people, nor in its traditions, nor in its history, that closes to them the prospect of joining the first world.”
Masire pointed out that an important factor that contributed to Botswana’s sustained economic growth was an “unflinching commitment to public sector reform” He added: “There is indisputable evidence that … the absence of bureaucracy in the public sector enhances private sector development.”
“Standard international comparisons show Botswana as being the freest economy on the continent of Africa”, noted O’Dowd. “What then did Botswana do right? Botswana maintained all the institutions and practices which constitute a free market economy. It consistently protected and respected property rights and nationalised nothing. This is crucial. It upheld a proper system of law under which contracts are dependably enforceable. It refrained from interfering with the day to day operation of the economy by means of controls and it refrained from setting up grandiose state enterprises as the old South African government did. This has been the road to success followed by every successful economy in the twentieth century, and it was the road followed by Botswana.”
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Sir Ketumile Masire, Nelson Mandela and the Free Market Foundation

Botswana&#8217;s Debswana Diamond Mining, a joint venture between De Beers and the southern Africa country&#8217;s government, plans to extend the lifespan of its Jwaneng mine beyond 2024, a mines minister said.
The project, known as Cut 9, follows a $3 billion expansion of Botswana&#8217;s richest diamond mine in 2010 to uncover 100 million carats of diamond and extend the life of the mine to 2024.
&#8220;Cut 9 will be a huge investment by De Beers as it will require a significant capital outlay,&#8221; mines minister Sadique Kebonang said late on Tuesday. &#8220;We should be able to start Cut 9 in the next two to three years.&#8221;
Debswana owns three other diamond mines in the country, one of which was placed under care and maintenance at the beginning of 2016.
Kebonang also said his government and De Beers have also started talks about the extension of their ten-year marketing and sales agreement, which is due to lapse in 2020.
Under the agreement signed in 2010, De Beers shifted more than $6 billion of annual rough diamond sales from London to a Gaborone-based joint venture called DTC to sort, value and sell diamonds to the global market.
(Writing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng, editing by Louise Heavens)

Botswana’s Debswana to extend Jwaneng diamond mine life beyond 2024

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Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana have suspended poultry imports from South Africa with immediate effect following outbreaks of the highly contagious avian flu. This is the first outbreak ever of bird flu in South Africa.

SA’s neighbours ban poultry imports over bird flu

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Businesses cannot thrive without the support of governments especially on the African continent with set policies that encourage alignment with governments in order for business to operate.

Barclays Bank of Botswana benefit from country’s good governance

Barbara Lewis
LONDON (Reuters) &#8211; Anglo American&#8217;s diamond unit De Beers on Thursday launched the world&#8217;s largest diamond exploration vessel off the coast of Namibia as it looks to maintain high production levels until 2035.
The 12,000-tonne, 113-metre-long SS Nujoma was built at a cost of $157 million and is named after Sam Nujoma, Namibia&#8217;s founding president.
&#8220;I am very, very confident this (vessel) will allow us to continue to extract 1.2 million carats a year,&#8221; De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver told Reuters by telephone.
He said he was &#8220;cautiously optimistic&#8221; about diamond sales in 2017 and in terms of value there have been &#8220;some small positive movements&#8221; but it was too early to declare a trend.
Anglo American and De Beers rely heavily on diamonds. Anglo American says they are central to its portfolio of assets as they tend to hold value when bulk commodities fall in price.
Diamonds are also important to Namibia as they generate 20 percent of its foreign export earnings. Namibia receives 80 cents of every Namibian dollar generated by Debmarine Namibia, its 50:50 joint venture with De Beers.
Marine diamonds are particularly prized. They are generally more valuable than land-based stones because lower quality gems are washed away by waves.
Debmarine Namibia produced 1.2 million carats of diamonds in 2016, a level De Beers says it can maintain until 2035 when its licence expires on a 6,000 square km area.
The SS Nujoma is the sixth diamond exploration vessel to join Debmarine Namibia&#8217;s fleet. It can hunt for diamonds at more than double the speed of its predecessor, De Beers said.
De Beers has a budget for land-based exploration of about $35 million to explore in Canada, Botswana and South Africa.
(Editing by Jason Neely)

De Beers, Namibia launch world’s biggest diamond exploration ship

GABORONE (Reuters) &#8211; Australia&#8217;s Kimberley Diamond Ltd (KDL) has shut its Lerala Diamond Mine in Botswana citing weak market conditions, leaving 130 workers unemployed, a local newspaper reported Thursday.
Botswana Mine Workers Union national organising coordinator, Abel Buka told Mmegi Newspaper that Kimberley had briefed workers in a letter that it was closing operations after failing to agree a funding deal with a Chinese financier.
&#8220;The general manager engaged Kimberly on May 29, four days after workers were supposed to receive their salaries and he was told that the company had no money, so just close the mine and send the workers home,&#8221; he was quoted as saying.
Lerala Mine was opened in 2008 and has shut twice owing to weak sales. Kimberley had targeted an annual output of 360,000 carats over seven years.
No-one at Kimberley was available to comment and its website, where it usually provides updates, has been suspended.
(Writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo, editing by David Evans)
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Botswana Lerala Diamond Mine shuts down – newspaper

Tiisetso Motsoeneng | JOHANNESBURG
Botswana&#8217;s state-owned power utility has invited bids to build a 100 megawatt (MW) solar power plant to boost energy security in the diamond-rich southern African country.
In a document published on its website, Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) said it expects energy demand to more than double to 1,359 MW by 2035 from around 600 MW.
&#8220;BPC would therefore like to engage companies into a joint venture for the development, implementation and operation of a 100 MW solar power plant with suitable storage capacity,&#8221; it said.
The development is expected to start two years from the appointment of a preferred partner.
Botswana is facing power supply deficit and relies on electricity imports from South Africa and Mozambique, though the 300 MW expansion of its coal-fired Morupule B power plant could pave the way to self-sufficiency in electricity generation.
However, the expansion of Morupule B, which currently generates about 260 MW, has been stalled by a dispute over an $800 million guarantee between the contractors and government.
(Writing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by David Goodman)
http://cnbc.africa/news/special-report/2017/02/20/solar-powered-africa-never-more-possible-and-less-expensive/

Botswana power utility invites bids to build 100 MW solar plant

GABORONE (Reuters) &#8211; Botswana&#8217;s largest tourism company, Wilderness Safaris, plans to make a bid for Air Botswana, the country&#8217;s loss-making national airline which the government wants to privatise.
Botswana put the airline up for sale in February, part of plans to privatise loss-making state-owned companies. The transport department said at the time it would consider full bids for Air Botswana, as well as joint ventures, ownership, franchising and concessions.
In March, Transport Minister Kitso Mokaila said at least 17 companies had expressed interest in Air Botswana, but he did not name them.
Wilderness Safaris said it planned to make a bid when it published its full-year results last week.
The company, which is also listed in Johannesburg, operates 50 luxury resorts across eight African countries and Wilderness Air operates 35 small aircrafts in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia mainly catering to tourists.
Botswana, whose main source of wealth is diamonds, has more than 30 state-owned enterprises, most of them loss making, in industries ranging from tourism and power to housing and finance.
Air Botswana operates four domestic routes and also provides cargo and air passenger services to Cape Town and Johannesburg from Gaborone, Francistown and the tourism hubs of Maun and Kasane.
The airline&#8217;s losses, blamed on a large workforce and an aging fleet, prompted a turnaround plan that includes cutting costs and cancelling unprofitable routes.
(Editing by James Macharia. Editing by Jane Merriman)
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Botswana’s Wilderness Safaris to bid for Air Botswana

The World Bank has given Botswana a $145.5 million loan to build water projects after it suffered a severe El Nino-induced drought in the past two years, Finance Minister Kenneth Matambo said on Thursday.
In 2015, overall dam levels in the semi-arid southern African nation fell below 20 percent of their design capacity during the country&#8217;s worst drought in more than three decades, and ground water sources dried up or became saline.
In a statement issued on Thursday, a day after the agreement was signed, Matambo said the loan would partly finance the Botswana emergency water security and efficiency project estimated at $160 million.
The remaining $14.5 million will be contributed by Botswana from domestic resources, he said.
In addition to mitigating drought impacts, the project will include waste water treatment and prevent pollution of vital downstream water resources, said Matambo.
(Editing by James Macharia)

World Bank loans Botswana $145.5 million for emergency water projects

Russia&#8217;s Norilsk Nickel said on Friday it had filed a lawsuit against the government of Botswana to try to recoup $271 million plus damages it says it is owed from the aborted sale of a 50 percent stake in the Nkomati mine in South Africa.
Botswana&#8217;s state-run BCL Mine pulled out of a 3 billion pula ($281 million) deal in October last year to buy a 50 percent stake in Nkomati Nickel Mine from Norilsk due to lack of funds.
Norilsk said in a statement it had served a notice of proceedings on the attorney general of Botswana, the minister of mineral resources and the minister of finance.
The mining company said that funding for the deal would come from or be guaranteed by the government but the state had made no effort to complete the deal.
&#8220;The government has displayed a complete disregard for the fair, frank and reasonable dealing with outsiders which BCL&#8217;s insolvent circumstances demanded,&#8221; Norilsk Nickel Africa CEO Michael Marriott said in a statement.
Norilsk had previously also filed a lawsuit in December 2016 against the BCL Group, saying it had failed to honour its obligations under the sale agreement.
Botswana officials were not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by Ed Stoddard and Adrian Croft)

Botswana

Africa prioritising private sector development to boost growth – World Bank

Africa’s best, worst countries for doing business

Investec, RMB acquire stake in Botswana-based retailer

Botswana’s Choppies to open 40 new stores in region

Masire: the president who left Botswana and the world an enduring legacy

Op-Ed: Democratic breakthroughs in Africa – time to celebrate but worries still linger

IMF revises Botswana’s 2017 growth forecast

Sir Ketumile Masire, Nelson Mandela and the Free Market Foundation

Botswana’s Debswana to extend Jwaneng diamond mine life beyond 2024

SA’s neighbours ban poultry imports over bird flu

Barclays Bank of Botswana benefit from country’s good governance

De Beers, Namibia launch world’s biggest diamond exploration ship

Botswana Lerala Diamond Mine shuts down – newspaper

Botswana power utility invites bids to build 100 MW solar plant

Botswana’s Wilderness Safaris to bid for Air Botswana

World Bank loans Botswana $145.5 million for emergency water projects

Norilsk Nickel files lawsuit against Botswana over Nkomati stake sale

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Botswana

Africa prioritising private sector development to boost growth – World Bank

Africa’s best, worst countries for doing business

Investec, RMB acquire stake in Botswana-based retailer

Botswana’s Choppies to open 40 new stores in region

Masire: the president who left Botswana and the world an enduring legacy

Op-Ed: Democratic breakthroughs in Africa – time to celebrate but worries still linger

IMF revises Botswana’s 2017 growth forecast

Sir Ketumile Masire, Nelson Mandela and the Free Market Foundation

Botswana’s Debswana to extend Jwaneng diamond mine life beyond 2024

SA’s neighbours ban poultry imports over bird flu

Barclays Bank of Botswana benefit from country’s good governance

De Beers, Namibia launch world’s biggest diamond exploration ship

Botswana Lerala Diamond Mine shuts down – newspaper

Botswana power utility invites bids to build 100 MW solar plant

Botswana’s Wilderness Safaris to bid for Air Botswana

World Bank loans Botswana $145.5 million for emergency water projects

Norilsk Nickel files lawsuit against Botswana over Nkomati stake sale

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