Bank of Botswana tops Banking and Finance Sector at the Northern Trade fair.
Bank Of Botswana (BOB) emerged as the overall winner under the Banking and Finance sector at the just ended Business Botswana National Trade Fair 2023. They were announced top of the group at Adansonia Hotel in Francistown on Saturday night.
BOB is the country’s central bank established in 1975 responsible for maintaining monetary and financial stability in Botswana, underpinned by confidence in the national currency and an effective payment system.
The four-day-fair was held from the 24th to the 28th of May at Francistown Showgrounds under the theme “Promoting Economic Growth through Industrialization.
BOB Public Education Manager, Pelontle Mosweu indicated that the theme was in line with the bank’s mandate as all in all the main thrust of their policies are so designed as to promote economic growth by ensuring price stability and financial stability.
“By price stability we mean a well calculated approach of regulating interest rates and controlling the money supply to influence inflation levels. Financial stability on the other hand speaks to the robustness of the financial system as a whole,” said the bank manager
Mosweu also noted that the fair has helped them demonstrate transparency as they are able to be visible to their customers and explain their services and the reason why they exist and their mandate.
He said according to his observation the Northern Trade fair was improving every year in terms of quality that exhibitors bring along and the improvement in the stalls and products.
He also noted that with little improvement on the venue especially on issues of hygiene, considering the amount of dust covering the area Francistown can be a viable place for business.
He touched on the issue of the discontinuation of cheques from December 31st as he said they have proven to be an inefficient means of settling transactions.
“We are making a change in the bank law, the chief executive who is the governor will no longer be chairperson of the board of BOB, but an ex officio member will be chosen as chairperson of the board instead.
“The governor will remain the CEO of the bank and ex officio member, somebody from outside the bank will be appointed to be chairperson. This has been put into law,” said Mosweu.
In conclusion Mosweu warned people about cryptocurrency and Ecoplexus schemes that have fleeced a lot of unsuspecting investors of their hard earned cash lately.
“People should know that every note has its own mark that identify the authenticity of the note. With fake money, the color might look the same but when we get to the real marks that real identifies the authenticity of the note, they fail at every corner.
“That is why they end up being caught. It really worries us, and we urge people to desist from it because they are getting themselves and others into trouble. And to do that because that also introduces fake money in the system. That can never be good in any country,” emphasized Mosweu
About Ecoplexus, Mosweu said people must know it is also deemed to be a Ponzi scheme where one recruit others to push them up.