Home | News | ERS to create about 40 500 jobs

ERS to create about 40 500 jobs

01/08/2013 03:38:00 BY SENZO DLAMINI

Font size:

Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini displays the Cabinet report during a press conference held at his office yesterday. (Pics: Mduduzi Mngomezulu)

MBABANE- The successful implementation of the first 12 projects of Economic Recovery Strategy is expected to create an estimated 40 500 jobs.

According to the Cabinet Performance Report, successful implementation of the projects will lead in the private sector investing about E29.7 billion-all in the next three to five years.

“This is expected to induce an increase in economic activity that will boost demand and in turn trigger increased production which is expected to raise the economic growth rate to at least three to five per cent in the next three years, leading to an improvement in the country’s Growth Domestic Product (GDP) per capita with a visible impact on poverty reduction,” reads the report.

In the report, it was stated that the standard of living and the general welfare of the Swazi people was expected to improve as the proposed investments promote economic and financial inclusion through reducing the high unemployment levels, while targeting rural out-reach areas where the majority of the population resides.

The ERS Task Team was appointed and commissioned by cabinet in April 2011 and announced by His Majesty the King during the 2011 Smart Partnership dialogue to drive, coordinate and monitor implementation of strategies and recommendations of the Smart Partnership dialogue by government ministries, parastatals and the private sector.

The ERS team which reports weekly to Cabinet, prioritised sectors that will have an immediate and long term impact on the economy, identifies obstacles inducing policies, regulations, institutional structures and legislation.
Among other duties delegated to the ERS Task Team was to; “Investigate revenue leakages and bottlenecks in revenue generation.”

Economic crisis recovery is a major achievement for Cabinet

MBABANE- Recovery from the economic crisis which rendered the Swazi government cash strapped has been listed as the major achievement for the PM Barnabas Dlamini led Cabinet.

This was disclosed in the Cabinet Performance Report presented to the media by the outgoing Prime Minister on Tuesday.
dependence
“Later in 2009, however, government’s heavy dependence on the customs duties shared out from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) was dealt with a substantial shock when, in one year, the pay-out fell from E5 billion to slightly less than E2 billion, a direct effect of the prevailing global economic recession.

“This precipitated a severe fiscal challenge for Swaziland’s public sector, and restoring a substantial measure of stability, albeit after a very difficult three year period, has to be counted as one of the significant achievements of the present administration,” reads the report.

improved

The PM also noted that sustaining a good standard of public service delivery while striving for improved value for money in expenditure, and prioritising outlays fairly and rationally, became a central pre-occupation during difficult times.
“It is, we feel, to the credit of this administration that through the following initiatives; Fiscal Adjustment Roadmap, Economic Recovery Strategy and New Investor Roadmap the way has been set out for improved fiscal performance and faster economic growth over the coming years to 2016,” it was stated.

In his foreword, the PM explained that the term ‘business unusual’ had been created to capture the concept of re-engineering the way government business was carried out.
“The outcome was an improved, more efficient, form of service delivery with performance targets for ministers and principal secretaries,” Dlamini said.
The PM said priority areas for the outgoing administration were health, education, food security and job creation which were all central to the objective of reducing poverty and increasing the standard of welfare for all Swazis.
Also included in the priority objectives were the improvement of social services, tackling corruption and crime generally, at the same time as strengthening security.

decentralisation

The PM said equally important among the priorities was decentra-lisation and access to essential resources such as water.
In appreciation of Their Majesties guidance, the PM said; “On behalf of the administrative arm of government, I wish to express our deep appreciation to His Majesty King Mswati III and Ingwenyama, Her Majesty the Indlovukazi for their guidance and support during this term of office.”