council secretary, honourable councillors, the entire district leadership and all distinguished guests, in addition to the other banks, there is now a branch of fnb botswana near you ; patronize it ; and do not give mr bogatsu and his team an excuse to close the branch, shortly after its opening, on account that it is not profitable. distinguished ladies and gentlemen, with those few remarks, it is now my singular honour and privilege to declare the first national bank of botswana mochudi branch, officially open. i thank you for your kind attention.

, as well as economic analysts and civil society. this enables an understanding of the unique situation of botswana and the interaction with global and regional developments ; thus, structural evolution and trends, developmental aspirations and needs that inform policy priorities and key data trends. in turn, such exchange of information enables evaluation of prospects and policy options, going forward. third, the bank, as well as institutions such as the non - bank financial institutions regulatory authority and statistics botswana, benefit from targeted technical assistance and skills development provided by the imf from the headquarters in washington dc or through the regional technical assistance centres, such as afritac south based in mauritius, to which botswana is affiliated. this technical assistance enables improvements in areas such as legislation, macroeconomic policy frameworks and formulation, regulatory approaches, as well as structuring and governance of institutions as necessary. in addition to improving operational competencies, access to training and skills development also encompasses interaction with other practitioners globally to share experiences. distinguished guests, it is clear, therefore, that the imf facilitates access to resources that members can opt to tap into subject to evaluation and assessment of their needs. in this regard, sustained judicious and prudent management of resources and the economy, as is the case in botswana, enables a wider range of choices and options with respect to policies, prioritisation of resource allocation, as well as the timing of implementation to achieve the desired objectives. distinguished ladies and gentlemen, you will be aware that botswana desires to transit from upper middle income status to high income status, and globally this transition is judged to be challenging, as it requires substantial structural transformation and shifts in growth strategies and policies. for botswana, it is estimated that this requires annual gdp growth rates of 8 percent over a six year period to leap from the current per capita income of just under usd8 000 per annum to above usd12 000. as a country, in the recent years, we noted challenges of slower growth rates compared to when we graduated from low - income status, slower than desired rate of economic diversification, as well as relatively high level of unemployment. in this respect, it is expected that, going forward, our relationship with the imf will focus on drawing on their expertise and sharing of experience of other countries to support transformation policies and strategies to enable botswana to fulfil its aspirations for a high - income status on a sustainable basis. distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, i thank you for your kind attention.