12 Situational Analysis 2.3.5 national, regional and global development challenges Despite the development strides made during the first medium term plan (2008-2012), the remaining development gap should be prioritised and implementation of appropriate initiatives aimed at addressing perennial challenges should be sustained. These challenges include: · Low domestic savings and investments · High levels of unemployment · High energy costs compared to other BPO competing destinations · High cost of finance · Inefficiencies in rail and port operations · Major economic and social disparities · Rapid population growth rate, informal settlements, governance problems and insecurity · High dependence on rain-fed agriculture · Narrow range of exports · Threats from climate change 2.4 ICT-related challenges to be addressed · · · · · · · · · · · · ICT services in unserved and underserved areas and for persons with disabilities How to harness ICT for efficient and effective government, economic growth and job creation for the youth High cost and unreliability of Telecommunication Small talent of BPO/industry specific skills Lack of standardisation of components and systems being procured and applied across the Government Limited country-wide ICT awareness that hinders cultural and attitudinal change A wide internal digital divide between rural and urban areas as well as low bandwidth High costs of migration from analogue to digital broadcasting Cyber crime Regional disparities in adoption and utilization of ICT services slowing speed of regional integration Inadequate policies and legal frameworks Inadequate competent and skilled human capacity

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