Swaziland’s economy is still in dire straits despite a U$800m
cash windfall received by the government this year from the Southern African
Customs Union.
And, the financial situation is so bad it will be impossible
to reduce poverty in the kingdom, where seven in ten people earn less than US$2
a day.
This is according to a report published by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) which stated that government spending
continued to be out of control.
Salaries for public servants remain one of the highest in
sub-Saharan Africa and amount to about 15 percent of the kingdom’s gross
domestic product (GDP).
The report, written by Olivier Basdevant, Emily Forrest,
and Borislava Mircheva, also stated that the kingdom’s deficit spending was at
about 6 percent of GDP when ‘estimated sustainable levels’ say it should be at
2 percent of GDP maximum.
The report contradicts the Swazi Finance Minister Majozi
Sithole who last month (January 2013) said the kingdom’s economy was no longer
in crisis. ‘‘I can safely say the economy is now under control. We have
survived the worst economic challenges ever,’ he said at the time.
The IMF-published report said current government spending
should be channelled towards social priorities or poverty issues. It said
social spending in Swaziland was much lower than budgeted by about US$56
million in 2011/12. This meant there was
less spending on education and health, including orphans and vulnerable
children (OVC), scholarships, and hospitals and schools.
The report added, ‘In addition, several investment
projects with poverty-alleviating components (e.g., school extensions) were
stopped, while other investment projects (e.g., the Sikhuphe airport) were
given priority.’
Sikhuphe, an ‘international airport’ being built in the
Swazi wilderness, using taxpayers’ money, is widely regarded as a vanity
project for King Mswati III. Sikhuphe has been criticised both inside and
outside of Swaziland for being
expensive and unnecessary.
The report’s writers said the kingdom’s financial position
remained vulnerable and inadequate to reduce poverty.
The report stated that in future the national budget would
need to ensure an adequate allocation to grants for OVC and the elderly.
Investment projects should be prioritized according to their expected impact on
growth and poverty reduction.
This latest report on the impact on ordinary Swazi people
of the financial mismanagement of the economy by a succession of governments,
all hand-picked by King Mswati, who is sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute
monarch, follows a detailed analysis published last year (2012) by the United
Nations.
It stated that the kingdom’s financial crisis had worsened
poverty by putting an additional strain on the poorest households, especially
families affected by HIV and AIDS and young people.
The report based on a kingdom-wide survey of 1,334
households in Swaziland suggested that one in four households suffered from
rising food prices and loss in labour income and that some families skipped
meals for an entire day. It was also
found that families had less access to services.
In 2011, social grants including the elderly grant, child
welfare grant, orphan and vulnerable child education grant, as well as public
assistance grant, were suspended or delayed. By August, only about one third of
primary school fees for orphans and vulnerable children, part of the
government’s commitment to roll out free primary school, had been paid. In the
health sector, some maternal health services were interrupted and a national
HIV prevention campaign was put on hold due to a lack of funds, the UN
reported,
See also
MINISTER WRONG ON ECONOMIC RECOVERY
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