12 °c
London
Saturday, August 13, 2022
No Result
View All Result
FurtherAfrica
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • Interviews
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Travel
  • Weekend
  • About
FurtherAfrica
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • Interviews
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Travel
  • Weekend
  • About
No Result
View All Result
FurtherAfrica
No Result
View All Result
Home Africa

Eswatini has a US$1.7B plan to fix its economy

Staff by Staff
August 17, 2020
in Africa, Budget, Coronavirus, Debt, DFI, Economy, Eswatini, Government
Reading Time: 3 mins read
862 18
0
Eswatini
Share via QRWhatsappShare on FacebookShare on TwitterLinkedInPinteresteMail

The southern African Kingdom of Eswatini has formulated a 30 billion emalangeni (US$1.73B) “Marshall Plan” to shore up an economy devastated by the coronavirus pandemic and a lockdown to curb its spread.

The plan aims to garner investment in 97 projects in seven industries, ranging from textiles to agriculture, and create more than 39,000 jobs. About three-quarters of the money will come from private investors and the balance from the government, which will fund its share from its existing budget and loans from international institutions, Finance Minister Neal Rijkenburg said in an online briefing to Bloomberg.

The plan envisions private companies being the key driver of economic growth and a diminished role for the government, which will focus on making it easier and cheaper to do business. A review of state companies will be undertaken with a view to selling some and shutting others.

“We are really opening ourselves up, we want people to come and set up here,” Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini said in the same briefing. “We want to lower our corporate tax rate, to use that as a competitive advantage. Currently it is about 27.5%, we want to drop it to as low as 12.5%.”

Project Pipeline

A landlocked nation of 1.1 million people, Eswatini has been led by King Mswati III since 1986 and was previously known as Swaziland before changing its official name in 2018. Several top business executives, including Dlamini and Rijkenburg, were allocated key economic portfolios in the cabinet when the current administration took office in late 2018.

Also read: Eswatini central bank cuts base rate 25bps to 3.75%

Their efforts to ignite economic growth were frustrated by revenue constraints and a slump in neighbouring South Africa, which buys the bulk of Eswatini’s exports. The advent of the coronavirus has made their task all the more difficult, with a 6.7% contraction expected this year as opposed to a 2.8% expansion forecast in the February budget.

The country’s ratio of debt-to-gross domestic product is expected to rise to 38% as it borrows more to fund its recovery plan, and could reach as high as 50% if an economic turnaround doesn’t materialize, Rijkenburg said. Budgeted expenditure on wages, goods and services, capital projects and transfers to state companies will be reduced by 3.3 billion emalangeni over the next three years, savings that should keep the budget deficit to within 6.5% of GDP.

IMF Loan
Eswatini has already received US$110.4M in emergency assistance from the International Monetary Fund and secured a 2 billion emalangeni loan from the African Export-Import Bank. It sees scope to borrow another US$100M from the IMF and US$200M from the World Bank. The total economic support package will equate to more than a third of Eswatini’s US$4.4B gross domestic product.

Commerce, Industry and Trade Minister Manqoba Khumalo said the government had engaged business groups on its new plan, asked them to submit a list of potential investments and identify what needs to be done for them to materialize within two years.

“One of the key unintended consequence was that it’s brought private sector and business closer than before,” he said. “We realized the role of government really has to transform Eswatini from being regulation-based to being investment-based. We need to really have a private-sector mentality within government.”

Other highlights:

  • A minimum of 5 billion emalangeni will be directed toward micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
  • The central bank is adjusting its requirements for loan guarantees to increase access to credit.
  • The government will set up a new unit that will work with investors to oversee the implementation of the projects, and ensure any bottlenecks are addressed.
  • The country aims to become self-sufficient in energy by 2026, and double foreign tourist arrivals.

Source: Bloomberg

Related

Tags: AfreximbankAfrican Export-Import BankCorona VirusCovid-19Economic GrowthEconomyeSwatiniEswatini has a US$1.7B plan to fix its economyfinancial packageFinancial SupportIMFInternational Monetary FundSMEsSwazilandWorld Bankсвазилендسوازيلاندスワジランド斯威士兰
ScanSendShare352Tweet220Share62Pin79Send
Staff

Staff

Related Posts

Culture

Meet 3 Richest African Immigrants in the US Millionaires Club

by See Africa Today
August 13, 2022
Culture

7 Africa’s Longest Serving Presidents

by See Africa Today
August 13, 2022
Economy

Mozambique’s 22% tax cuts among 20 measures for economic acceleration

by The Exchange
August 13, 2022
Tech

NFTs and blockchain crucial in concept of an African Metaverse

by Web3Africa
August 13, 2022
The new currency notes in Ethiopia
Finance

Development Bank of Ethiopia to provide 10 Billion Birr loan for SMEs

by FurtherAfrica
August 12, 2022
Angola Oil & Gas 2022
 
AFSIC 2022
 
Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park
 
MozParks

Translate this page

Read the Latest

Culture

Meet 3 Richest African Immigrants in the US Millionaires Club

by See Africa Today
August 13, 2022
0

The US is always a top choice for immigrants, and it remains unchanged for decades, giving existence to the richest...

Read more

7 Africa’s Longest Serving Presidents

August 13, 2022

Mozambique’s 22% tax cuts among 20 measures for economic acceleration

August 13, 2022

NFTs and blockchain crucial in concept of an African Metaverse

August 13, 2022
The new currency notes in Ethiopia

Development Bank of Ethiopia to provide 10 Billion Birr loan for SMEs

August 12, 2022

FurtherAfrica Partners Network

The Exchange Club of Mozambique Taarifa Rwanda
TechGist Africa Africa Oil & Power Farmers Review Africa
Tanzania Invest Zambia Invest See Africa Today
Africa Global Funds Novafrica CrudeMix Africa
Harambee Africa Botswana unplugged Financial Insights Zambia
Digilogic Africa Web3Africa

Subscribe to FurtherAfrica

Enter your email address to receive new articles on your email.

Join 99,392 other subscribers.

FurtherAfrica

© 2021 FurtherMarkets

FurtherAfrica is a FurtherMarkets Limited platform

  • Countries
  • Interviews
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Travel
  • Weekend
  • About

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Countries
    • Angola
    • Botswana
    • Cape Verde
    • DRC
    • Eswatini
    • Ethiopia
    • Kenya
    • Malawi
    • Mauritius
    • Mozambique
    • Namibia
    • Nigeria
    • Rwanda
    • South Africa
    • Tanzania
    • Uganda
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • Interviews
  • Understanding
  • Videos
  • Travel
  • Weekend
  • About

© 2021 FurtherMarkets

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?