2019 GDP UP TO E64.6 BILLION

 MBABANE – The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) for 2019 was recorded at E64.615 billion.

This is as per figures which have just been released by the Central Statistical Office (CSO) under the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development.

GDP is simply a measure of the economic activity and corresponds to the value of all goods and  services  produced  less  the  value  of  any  goods  or  services  used  in  their production  within  a  country.  

Nominal  GDP  is  the  market  value  of  goods  and services  at current  prices,  while real  GDP  estimates  are  adjusted  for  inflation  to give constant  prices relative  to  a  base  year.  

Reflection

The base year is chosen to give an accurate reflection of the economy at a given time. In the case of Eswatini, the base year is 2011.

The real GDP growth rate is the level at which real GDP changes from one year to the next.  This allows for comparisons of an individual economy over time and between economies of different countries in a given year. 

Estimates of (GDP) by both production and expenditure approaches were compiled according to the concepts and definitions of the System of National Accounts (2008 SNA), which is the internationally agreed standard set of recommendations on how to compile measures of economic activity. Among others, the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) Revision 4 was also used to classify the establishments by the kind of economic activity.

According to the CSO figures copied to this publication, the Real GDP has increased by 2.2 per cent compared to a growth of 2.4 percent realised in 2018. The figures for 2018 were E61.771 billion.

“The observed growth was contributed by the secondary sector which grew by 4.4 per cent and the tertiary sector at 1.4 per cent even though the primary sector fell by -0.8 per cent,” reads the report in part.

Figure 2 above illustrates   the   proportion   of   GDP   by   industry for   2019. Manufacturing contributed   the largest share of GDP at 29.7 per cent. It was followed by wholesale and retail trade at 14 per cent. Agriculture and forestry contributed 8.5 per cent. The least contributing industries were mining   and   quarrying,   arts   entertainment   and recreation with 0.1 and 0.2 per cent, respectively.

Economists unanimously forecasted that the 2020 figures were set to drop due to a slowdown in economic activity. 

Growth

Countries that include Eswatini enforced nationwide lockdowns to curtail the spread of COVID-19, which started to rear its ugly head in the country in early March 2020. Already the country endured back-to-back negative growth in fourth quarter of 2019 and the first of 2020. 

As a result, the country slipped into technical recession. A technical recession is when you have two negative quarters of GDP, but it is due mainly to slowing growth or an isolated event rather than a major underlying cause. 

Technical recessions are usually short in duration and mild in severity.

The CSO is yet to release 2020 quarter two GDP results.

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