AFDB CONFIDENT OF ECONOMIC REFORMATION

MBABANE – The African Development Bank (AfDB) has expressed strong sentiments that Eswatini could be on the right path towards economic recovery.

Speaking through a representative of the nine executive directors, who had been in the country from Saturday, AfDB Executive Director, who represents Canada, China, Korea, Kuwait and Turkey, said they were strongly of the view that economic reformation could be achieved at ease if the appropriate measures would be put in place.

“We are enthusiastic to see how the economic reforms to be implemented by the new government will improve the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” said David Stevenson.        
He said they were impressed with government’s efforts to enact policies that would enable the country to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which could culminate in improvement of the private sector for the better.
“It will also be highly important to appropriately manage the public expenditure if the country seeks to achieve economic growth in the short to medium term,” Stevenson advised.

The executive director further pointed out that as part of the economic reformation process, government ought to consider co-financing investments into the private sector through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).

Contract

The PPP Knowledge Lab, an online search engine, defines a PPP as “a long-term contract between a private party and a government entity, for providing a public asset or service, in which the private party bears significant risk and management responsibility, and remuneration is linked to performance”. PPPs typically do not include service contracts or turnkey construction contracts, which are categorised as public procurement projects or the privatisation of utilities where there is a limited ongoing role for the public sector.

Further, Stevenson strongly emphasised on the need to manage the country’s wage bill with a view to ensure that government has adequate resources to pay salaries. He said it was vital to ensure that funds were allocated towards capital projects that would turn the economy around.

It should be mentioned that Eswatini remains one of the smallest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with arguably the second largest wage bill which stands at over E800 million with 44 000 civil servants.
“The AfDB will continue to fund infrastructural, agricultural and policy formulation support to the Kingdom of Eswatini,” Stevenson assured.

An economist, who preferred anonymity, advised that assurance by AfDB to continue funding the kingdom does not take anything away from the fact that Eswatini should ensure budget prioritisation against all odds.

Importance

He stated that it would also be of equal importance to see into it that even when appropriate budget allocation has been achieved, funds allocated for developmental projects were not diverted to suit the desires of the certain individuals in high echelons of power.
“The approval processes of what has been budgeted for should also be prioritised to avoid mismanagement of resources,” he said.   

Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg promised the AfDB executive directors that they were working around the clock to publicly announce an economic reformation strategy that would encompass advice from both international and local bodies with a view to achieve sustainable economic growth.
He said they were glad that the reputable African Bank has confidence on Eswatini’s economic turnaround strategy. Rijkenberg said the country’s authorities were highly grateful for both financial and technical assistance that had been received.  

Assisting

 “AfDB has been assisting the country for a number of years now, especially towards agricultural and infrastructural development. We are proud to have maintained a good track record in terms of repayment deadlines and completing projects within the projected budgets which strategically position us at an advantage to receive funding in future,” said Rijkenberg.

The overarching objective of the AfDB group is to spur sustainable economic development and social progress in its regional member countries (RMCs), thus contributing to poverty reduction.
The Bank group achieves this objective by mobilising and allocating resources for investment in RMCs and providing policy advice and technical assistance to support development efforts.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: