RECONSTRUCTION FUND DISBURSES E174M IN 2022

MBABANE – Government continues to show effort in reviving the private sector which is expected to contribute immensely to the economy.

Prime Minister (PM) Cleopas Dlamini last week Thursday announced that government has disbursed about E174 million to businesses this year through the reconstruction fund. “His Majesty King Mswati III launched a Reconstruction Fund to compensate businesses that suffered damage to property and stock loss during the political unrest that started in June 2021. To-date, government has disbursed approximately E174 million,” said the PM. Dlamini added that on the trade side, the country has strengthened bilateral trade relations with its international trade partners.

This year, he said Eswatini assumed the Chairmanship of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), automatically taking the lead in SACU trade issues, at the technical, senior officials, ministerial and Summit or Head of State levels. Businesses have been given a chance to rise from the damages and losses incurred during COVID-19 as well as the unrest. The ministry of finance together with EswatiniBank had disbursed over E60 million through the Reconstruction Fund by June 2022. This was mentioned by the new Chairperson of the reconstruction fund, Thulisile Gama, in an interview. Gama said the amount disbursed to the business owners so far is E 61 243 567.73.

Compensation

She said this mainly goes towards the informal sector stock compensation and refunds to businesses which are already back in business. “Currently, there are 230 applications that have been approved by the reconstruction fund Management Committee, as of May 16, 2022”, she said. The chairperson also mentioned that the value of the approved applications is E108 835 867.89. She said they also give guarantees to the businesses which were compensated for infrastructure and capital equipment. “We pay to source following submissions of quotations and Bill of Quantities and the guarantees issued to date are of the value of E47 592 300.16”, she said. Gama added that applications were still opened and business owners should apply to revive and improve their businesses. “The application forms are available at every branch of EswatiniBank and also through the Government of Eswatini website and the EswatiniBank website,”she added.

Applications

Vice chairperson of the Reconstruction fund Meluleki Dlamini said the fund management committee has received 330 applications from affected businesses during the unrest. He said this was a concern for the committee since this number was not reflective of the number of incidents reported to the NDMA when the unrest took place. “The incidents reported to NDMA were more than 700. On that note, we humbly request the businesses that have not come forward to submit their claims to EswatiniBank for financial assistance,” he said. “This announcement will continue to run through our national Radio station EBIS and we have already made this same announcement through Eswatini TV,” he said.

scope

He also mentioned that the scope of the fund spans from the June 25, 2021 to September 15, 2021. His Majesty King Mswati III officially launched the Reconstruction Fund last year September with contributions amounting to approximately E1 billion. The fund is an intervention aimed at supporting all those who were affected during the unrest in June last year.
The fund has received E500 million start-up injection from government. At its launch, the fund has received a contribution from Taiwan worth E330 million as well as from a number of local businesses including EswatiniBank, Public Service Pensions Fund (PSPF), Eswatini Royal Insurance Corporation (ESRIC), Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC), Montigny, Dalcrue and Standard Bank Eswatini.

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