Botswana’s 2026/27 national budget places technology and digital transformation at the centre of the country’s economic reform agenda, with government committing to accelerated connectivity, expanded e-government services, and the rollout of foundational digital infrastructure aimed at improving service delivery, boosting productivity and enabling private-sector growth.
Presenting the budget to Parliament, Finance Minister Ndaba Gaolathe said digitalisation would be a critical enabler of Botswana’s ambition to become a high-income, export-driven and digitally enabled economy.
A key priority outlined in the budget is expanding digital connectivity across the country. Government will accelerate the Villages Connectivity Programme, extending fibre-optic infrastructure to remote villages and fast-growing settlements that are currently outside commercial broadband networks. The expansion is intended to improve internet speed, reliability and affordability for households, schools, clinics and small businesses, narrowing the digital divide between urban and rural communities.
Alongside connectivity, government is intensifying efforts to digitise public services. The budget confirms continued investment in the 1Gov1Citizen integrated e-services platform, which is designed to make government services simpler, faster and more accessible. To date, 52 public services are fully available online, while an additional 179 digital services have been developed and are undergoing final integration testing, expected to be completed before the end of the financial year. Once fully deployed, the platform is expected to significantly reduce queues, shorten processing times and improve ease of doing business.
A major structural reform highlighted in the speech is the acceleration of Botswana’s National Digital Identification System. The digital ID will serve as a secure and interoperable platform for identity verification across both public and private services. Government says the system will reduce duplication, strengthen fraud prevention, and improve the integrity of public records, while also enabling digital payments, targeted social services and broader financial inclusion. The digital ID is positioned as a foundational layer for Botswana’s wider e-government and digital economy ambitions.
Technology also features prominently in public sector reform efforts. Government is progressing with the implementation of a National e-Procurement System, following the approval of the National e-Procurement Strategy. The fully digital procurement platform, expected to be operational before the end of the 2026/27 financial year, aims to improve transparency, efficiency and value for money across the public procurement cycle, while reducing opportunities for waste and abuse.
In healthcare, digital innovation is being positioned as a cornerstone of system reform. The budget confirms plans to establish a National Health Intelligence Centre to collect and analyse real-time health data from across the country. By leveraging digital technologies, data analytics and artificial intelligence, the platform is expected to support evidence-based planning, improve efficiency and strengthen Botswana’s public health system.
Part of the P4.05 billion development budget will also go towards investment in Innovation, Research and Development; National Retail Payment Switch and the Massachusetts Technology Institute (MIT) Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme.
More broadly, digitalisation is embedded within the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme, which identifies financial services and digitalisation as one of its core economic priorities. Government believes the expanded use of digital platforms, data-driven decision-making and technology-enabled service delivery will be critical to raising productivity, supporting private-sector participation and improving competitiveness in regional and global markets.