Times Of Swaziland: PUBLIC DEBT  DROPS BY 1.1%

PUBLIC DEBT  DROPS BY 1.1%
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BY KWANELE DHLADHLA  on 22/02/2018 00:48:00


MBABANE – The bulk of payments by government to service providers has led to a
decrease of the public debt to stand at E12.6 billion.
The Central Bank of Swaziland (CBS) has reported that preliminary figures for
the month ending January 31, 2018 indicated that total public debt stood at
E12.6 billion, an equivalent of 21.6 per cent of Growth Domestic Product (GDP).
It was explained that this reflects a decrease of 1.1 per cent from a revised
figure of E12.7 billion recorded in December 2017.
corresponding
Further, it was reported that as at the end of January 2018, external debt stood
at E5.4 billion, corresponding to 9.2 per cent of GDP which showed a decrease of
2.2 per cent from the revised figure of E5.5 billion recorded in December 2017.
“The decrease is mainly attributed to a bulk of debt service payments made in
the month under review also coupled with a strengthening of the Lilangeni
against the US Dollar as well as other major currencies in which the country’s
liabilities are denominated,” said CBS.
As at the end of January 2018, public domestic debt stood at E7.2 billion an
equivalent of 12.4 per cent of GDP. This showed that there had been no
meaningful change in domestic debt in the month under review when compared to
E7.3 billion recorded at the end of December 2017. While there was a bond
issuance in January 2018, it was matched by a similar maturity in the same
month.
CBS also stated that during the month of January 2018, local unit extended its
gains, strengthening against the major currencies. This reportedly came after
the Rand benefitted from the combination of South African political
developments, commodity prices boom, and the weakening of the U.S. dollar, which
saw the rand appreciates to below E12.00 per dollar for the first time in three
years. Compared to December 2017, the local unit strengthened by 7.5 per cent to
average E12.20 against the U.S. dollar, 4.4 per cent to average E16.91 to the
Pound Sterling and against the Euro by 4.7 per cent to average E14.88 in the
period under review.