Beci: Offering Economic

By: Ephraim Banda

After leading from the front in delivering much-needed support to the distressed business community during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Export Credit Insurance & Guarantee Company (Botswana) Pty Ltd (BECI), is upbeat that the time has come to realign through a holistic Transformation Agenda aimed to reposition it to craft cutting-edge solutions that transcend insurance and deliver tangible economic growth for the country.

Rocky Ramalefo, the Sales & Marketing Manager at BECI and this publication had the privilege to discuss pertinent issues around the COVID-19 Guarantee Scheme and BECI’s strategic plan post-COVID-19.

Strides: BECI administered the COVID-19 Loan Guarantee Scheme on behalf of the government in the course of the pandemic. Briefly share with us the highlights of the scheme, how much of the allocated funds were accessed, and what has been the overall performance of the scheme so far.

Ramalefo: The scheme was to assist companies which were affected during the COVID-19 lockdowns and through the intervention, banks helped companies on matters of operating or working capital arising from the limited cash flows which arose during the lockdowns. Companies needed the jump starts in terms of working capital. The idea the government had in mind for introducing the P 1 billion scheme was quite generous. However, the disbursement to companies was dependent on the assessment of companies needs by the banks.

All the commercial banks including the National Development Bank (NDB) participated in the scheme.

P260 million was disbursed as loans, and because the scheme guarantees only 80%, the guaranteed funds issued is P208 Million and the rest be- ing 20% was on the banks. 91 facilities were approved representing a 20.1 % utilisation of the P1 billion allocation for the scheme. Although the facility was not utilized to the expected levels, we comparatively had a better utilisation percentage when compared to countries in the region. For example, In South Africa, they had a much bigger allocation yet they had less than 20 % utilisation. We also had a great number of inquiries, but we didn’t have the mechanisms in place to record each one of them as the banks were the first point of contact. The participating banks assessed the applications and approached us to guarantee the facilities for those eligible for the scheme.

It’s worth noting that the Tourism sector was at the top of the adversely affected sectors of the economy as it is reliant on the movement of people. The sector utilised 43 % or P110 Million of the total funds disbursed. FMCG, wholesale and retail came second at 14 % while agriculture and manufacturing came third at 13 %. Construction came fourth at 10% while other sectors like mining, energy, transport, financial services and education utilised the remaining 8%. Currently, some of the facilities are fully paid for. The companies can sustain themselves through the opening of the economy and service the facilities. In the meantime, the loss ratio is 2.4% which is manageable.

The facility has been restructured and extended to March 2026 to help meet the supply chain challenges post the pandemic. These supply chain challenges are prevalent in the Agricultural sector as they need to source inputs such as fertilizers and seeds from nations that are affected by the Russia-Ukraine war.