BUSINESS COMMUNITY FACES OVER E10 BILLION LOSSES

MANZINI – The business community anticipates losing over E10 billion in revenue due to the coronavirus.
This was an estimate figure disclosed by Business Eswatini Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nathi Dlamini.

Dlamini said the revaluing of prospective losses was an exercise that was still underway, as the situation kept evolving. However, Dlamini said based on revised forecasts of the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates, it was anticipated that the private sector would lose over E10 billion. Dlamini said this loss would be in the short term.

This amount, which is envisaged to be lost by the private sector, amounts to 41.5 per cent of the country’s National Budget, which when announced by the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, stood at E24.1 billion.
“I would not be as pessimistic as to say there are industries that will not rise again, but I would certainly expect their recovery period to be much longer,” he said.

This was after this publication had sought him to assist with an estimate of how much could be lost by Business Eswatini members due to the pandemic.
Furthermore, Dlamini was sought to highlight the industries which were expected to fall through due to the impact of the coronavirus. To this, he could not state for sure which industries were suspected to suffer the most.

However, he said: “For example, based on the SARS outbreak around 2002, industries such as travel and tourism took around 18 to 24 months to recover, and we would expect similar timelines, based on how soon the pandemic is contained.”

AU relief

The deficit anticipated by the private sector could partially be supported if the country positions itself in order to benefit from the Special Envoys of the African Union (AU).
The special envoys team was set up by the Chairman of the AU, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, on Saturday. He appointed Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dr Donald Kaberuka, Tidjane Thiam and Trevor Manuel as Special Envoys of the AU to mobilise international support for Africa’s efforts to address the economic challenges African countries will face as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The special envoys will be tasked with soliciting rapid and concrete support as pledged by the G20, the European Union (EU) and other international financial institutions.
President Ramaphosa said: “In light of the devastating socio-economic and political impact of the pandemic on African countries, these institutions need to support African economies that are facing serious economic challenges with a comprehensive stimulus package for Africa, including deferred debt and interest payments.

“The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been global in both scale and reach, and this necessitates coordinated international action to capacitate all countries to respond effectively, but most particularly developing countries that continue to shoulder a historical burden of poverty, inequality and underdevelopment,” President Ramaphosa said.

A press statement by the AU further quoted President Ramaphosa as having said the sentiment expressed in two recent letters written to the G20 by a group of world leaders and a team of esteemed economists underscored the importance of bolstering health systems in poorer countries. He said this could only be done with the support of the international community.

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