Times Of Swaziland: CALL TO INCREASE COLA JUSTIFIABLE

CALL TO INCREASE COLA JUSTIFIABLE
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Nhlanganiso Mkhonta on 08/08/2023 14:31:00


MBABANE – The call by civil servants to increase the Cost-of-Living Adjustment
(CoLA) above three percent threshold ceiling by the Government of Eswatini could
be justifiable in the spectrum of high cost of living.
This was mentioned by Southern African Research Foundation for Economic
Development (SARFED) regional coordinator and Economist Dr George Choongwa in a
statement issued yesterday. Dr Choongwa stated that the high cost of living was
induced by both indo and exogenous factors the economy of Eswatini has been
subjected in the past decade. The economist said, however, the deadlock between
two bodies in reaching a strategic conscious within an ideal time frame could
have a double-sided ripple effect causing fiscal disparities at the expense of
the entire socioeconomic spectrum of the country, as the economy would slide
into a stagflation mode. He said in spite of the fact that Eswatini public
sector has had a record of having a largest wage bill in the sub-Sahara Africa
for the past two decades, government has had achieved to reduce it to
considerable levels.
Bill
He noted that according to the Ministry of Public Service Annual Performance
Report for the financial year 2021/22, government’s wage bill decreased to
considerable levels by E47.4 million in a space of three months, causing a boast
in the country’s fiscal space. Dr Choongwa said, however, austerity measures
were taken at the expense of high unemployment rate as hiring free was
introduced as well as other re-current public sector performance activities
caused by reduction in the Government Computer Services (GCS). He said amid the
increase in the cost of living, the country’s income per capita has been
sluggish with a growth rate of about 1.8 per cent per year on average since
2012. Dr Choongwa added that the reactive increase in disposable income as a
measure to curb inflationary effect on aggregate spending by the civil servants
as demanded by the trade union through the CoLA would not have a sustainable
effect on economic stability and growth unless government and the trade unions
establish smart partnership pathways that would bring about collective benefits
using a transitory economic growth modalities for both monetary and fiscal
policy stability as measures to avoid stagflation.