Business and Investment Environment
Botswana offers significant investment opportunities in a number of sectors that the government has identified as areas of priority for stimulating growth, expansion and diversification of the economy.
It aims to reduce the contribution of diamonds to the economy from 80 percent to about 30 percent, with financial services, information technology, telecommunications and tourism making up the difference.
Botswana's prudent management of the economy and predictability of policies, as well as low tax rates, continue to generate private sector interest and enthusiasm.
The government has been pro-active in promoting export growth and diversification through tax and investment incentives, and the abolishment of exchange control regulations in February 1999.
Botswana's strong financial base led to an establishment of an International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), the first of its kind in Africa, and one of only three in the world. The IFSC offers foreign investors a 15 percent corporate tax rate that is guaranteed until June 2020. Other benefits include exemption from withholding taxes, provision of credits for withholding taxes levied in foreign jurisdictions, access to Botswana's Double Taxation Treaty network and no foreign exchange or capital controls.
The aim of the IFSC is to attract to Botswana those companies that are currently operating, or intend to operate, in Africa.
The Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA) was established in 1997 to promote foreign direct investment into the country, with special emphasis on export-oriented manufacture and services. The country's judiciary system is one of the best in the world, ranked as 11th in the world according to the World Economic Forum, Global Technology Report 2003-2004.
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