ENPF CONTRIBUTIONS UP BY 8%

MBABANE – Employers will soon dig 8% deeper into their pockets to meet the obligation of contributing to their employees’ provident fund. 
 This follows the gazetting of an 8% increase in maximum contributions which comes into effect as from January 2019.

Eswatini National Provident Fund (ENPF) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Prince Lonkhokhela yesterday drew the attention of all employers to legal notice number 171 of 2014 which has been amended.

Section two of the notice stipulates that wages level for statutory contributions for the year 2019 should be payable by a contributing employer in respect of wages of E2 700 or less during any calendar month.  

Explained

“Contributions per employee will increase from E250 to E270 per month,” explained the prince.
The latest increase effectively means employers and employees alike will now part ways with E135 per month which adds up to the total of E270.
“Employee members of the fund are advised to check their payslips to see if the correct deductions have been effected,” the CEO advised.

A businessman who spoke on condition of anonymity said it was saddening to note that the cost of running a business would rise again despite the fact that they were not being paid on time especially by government.
“We are forced to honour our obligations yet government continues to be slow when it comes to paying us what is due,” said the businessman, who is one of the major suppliers of perishables.    

As at the end of November, the Ministry of Finance reported that suppliers were owed up to E3.5 billion.

Improved

It should be mentioned that the total number of employed people in the Kingdom of Eswatini has improved from 212 130 to 288 044 out of the current 373 869 labour force.
From the 28.1 per cent of unemployed populace recorded during the 2013/14 labour force survey, there was a drop to 23 per cent in the unemployment rate according to the 2016 survey, which represented a five per cent improvement in the number of people with jobs.

Wholesale, retail and repair of motor vehicles was the highest employer with 16.7 per cent of the total labour force.
This sector was closely followed by manufacturing, which had absorbed 15 per cent, while agriculture, forestry and mining employed 11.4 per cent of the total labour force.

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