{"id":24076,"date":"2023-01-15T16:14:54","date_gmt":"2023-01-15T16:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?p=24076"},"modified":"2023-01-15T16:07:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-15T16:07:31","slug":"matekanes-five-year-strategic-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matekanes-five-year-strategic-plan","title":{"rendered":"Matekane\u2019s five-year strategic plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>PRIME Minister Sam Matekane\u2019s government has released a five-year strategic plan on how it intends to turn around the country\u2019s economy. The 2023 to 2027 National Strategic Development Plan II, released on New Year\u2019s Eve, has four key priority areas (KPAs) of growth progression, social transformation, infrastructure development, good governance and accountability.<\/p>\n

The goal of the first KPA, growth progression, is to achieve inclusive sustainable and equitable growth and create private sector-led employment for Basotho.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aim is to transform the country from a consumer-based economy to a producer and export-driven economy,\u201d the document reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is hoped to be achieved through structural transformation of the following productive sectors: Agriculture, Manufacturing, Mining and Tourism,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

The second key priority area is aligned with food security and agriculture revolution, industrialisation revolution, development finance revolution and extractive industry revolution.<\/p>\n

The key priority area aims at increasing agricultural production capacity, developing agriculture commodity markets, and maximizing value from wool and mohair.<\/p>\n

Regarding the industrialisation revolution, the key priority area aims at achieving urbanisation and industrialisation, and developing the creative industry.<\/p>\n

In regard to extractive industry revolution, the plan is to map and quantify the country\u2019s assets to enhance bargaining power, attract financing in top mining projects, capture maximum value for the Basotho nation, and to establish a Sovereign Development Fund.<\/p>\n

As for the development finance revolution, it seeks to provide guidance for credit giving financial institutions, re-engineering and reorganising the Lesotho National Development Corporations (LNDC) and the Basotho Enterprises Development Corporation (BEDCO).<\/p>\n

It also seeks to reinforce and enhance the financial inclusion mandate of Lesotho Post Bank. The government wants to convert the Lesotho Post Bank into a fully-fledged development bank mandated to support, among others, the energy security national priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of this KPA is to achieve inclusive, sustainable and equitable growth and create private sector-led employment for Basotho,\u201d the document reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aim is to transform the country from a consumer-based economy to a producer and export-driven economy,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is hoped to be achieved through structural transformation of the following productive sectors, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Mining and Tourism.<\/p>\n

\u201d One of the goals is to introduce a social security fund to reduce the risk of exposure of workers to job losses.<\/p>\n

The Fund will be a contributory scheme for the employer and employee and will pay benefits to the employee in the event they lose their job or are impaired.<\/p>\n

The document says past and current development plans have been formulated to define a desired destination and identify the roles that different sectors of society need to play in order to realise a set goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis requires critical levels of commitment and leadership to strengthen the planning systems within and across all the spheres of government, and collaboration of the private sector, civil society and development partners.<\/p>\n

\u201d<\/p>\n

It says although Lesotho\u2019s planning and fiscal operations have been guided by the national planning frameworks to promote sustainable development, \u201cthe country remains vulnerable, with low investment in key areas, low productive capacity, and high-income inequality\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe economy is still highly dependent on government for economic activities and fiscal revenues,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cLesotho\u2019s capacity to attract foreign investment is limited and the country remains very dependent on imports. Poverty and unemployment remain high, especially in the rural areas, affecting mostly women and youth. \u201d<\/p>\n

The government says although Lesotho has made critical strides towards sustainable development since independence, \u201cthis has neither eradicated multidimensional poverty nor reduced unemployment levels\u201d.<\/p>\n

It refers to the 2022 World Bank report on inequality in Southern Africa, which says the unemployment rate in Lesotho remains high at 22.5 percent (using a strict definition) and 38.3 percent (using the expanded definition that includes discouraged job seekers) in 2019.<\/p>\n

As a result, 49.7 percent of the population in Lesotho lives below US$1.90 (about M32) per person per day (Lesotho Poverty Mapping Report, 2018). In terms of inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, Lesotho is among the most unequal countries in the world.<\/p>\n

The government says although some progress has been made since 2010, \u201cthere is need to focus on income and asset inequality so that Lesotho does not remain one of the most unequal societies in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNearly 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line,\u201d the document reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver 20 percent of the labour force is unemployed,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is evidenced by the deteriorating macroeconomic position of the country.
\nIt says GDP has declined steadily since 2015 which is attributed to the growing structural gap between the government\u2019s spending and the amount of revenue it collects.<\/p>\n

Government spending, the document says, is estimated at around 60 percent of the GDP and is evidenced by the deteriorating macroeconomic position of the country.<\/p>\n

The government recognises education and skills development as the cornerstone for any development as it aims to ensure that a person has an opportunity to be productive and be grounded with moral values.<\/p>\n

The Matekane-led government says there is a need to identify skills need and labour market trends to avoid unnecessary unemployment and underemployment among the educated.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. PRIME Minister Sam Matekane\u2019s government has released a five-year strategic plan on how it intends to turn around the country\u2019s economy. The 2023 to 2027 National Strategic Development Plan II, released on New Year\u2019s Eve, has four key priority areas (KPAs) of growth progression, social transformation, infrastructure development, good governance and accountability. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":24075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12],"tags":[233,246,686,245],"class_list":["post-24076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-economy","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nMatekane\u2019s five-year strategic plan - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PRIME Minister Sam Matekane\u2019s government has released a five-year strategic plan on how it intends to turn around the co ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matekanes-five-year-strategic-plan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matekane\u2019s five-year strategic plan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PRIME Minister Sam Matekane\u2019s government has released a five-year strategic plan on how it intends to turn around the co ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matekanes-five-year-strategic-plan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-15T16:14:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673783889.37.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matekanes-five-year-strategic-plan#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matekanes-five-year-strategic-plan\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Matekane\u2019s five-year strategic plan\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-15T16:14:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matekanes-five-year-strategic-plan\"},\"wordCount\":855,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matekanes-five-year-strategic-plan#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673783889.37.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"economy\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matekanes-five-year-strategic-plan#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matekanes-five-year-strategic-plan\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matekanes-five-year-strategic-plan\",\"name\":\"Matekane\u2019s five-year strategic plan - 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