Times Of Swaziland: ‘PRIORITISE ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION’

‘PRIORITISE ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION’
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BY STANLEY KHUMALO on 14/02/2020 00:12:00


MBABANE – The National Budget to be delivered by the Minister of Finance, Neal
Rijkenberg, in a few hours has to prioritise economic diversification and
inclusive entrepreneurship.
The Regional Coordinator of the Southern African Research Foundation for
Economic Development (SARFED) and economist, Dr. George Choongwa, said the fact
that economic growth projection in the country was at 2.6 per cent this coming
financial period of 2020/21; this year’s current budget was expected to
prioritise two items namely: economic diversification and inclusive
entrepreneurship as a balance between macro and micro economic policy
development in Eswatini.
He said: “The kingdom of Eswatini has great opportunity and capacity to grow
if much priority is given to the development of both diversification and
inclusive entrepreneurship.”
These avenues, he said, would not only boost the local economy but also make it
more competitive as the country would stand a chance of becoming an engine of
economic growth in the Southern African region.
infrastructure
Dr. Choongwa said despite the fact that  primary infrastructure (roads,
electricity, water, and telecommunications) was relatively well developed and
modern in Eswatini, macroeconomic performance had continued to stagnate, with
real gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaging 0.5 per cent in 2018.
For this to happen, Dr. Choongwa said the country could achieve and maintain a
high and sustainable economic growth if it maintained a balance between micro
and macro-economic policy implementation through prioritisation of both economic
diversification and inclusive entrepreneurship.
impact
In order to attain these steps to boost the economy and bring impact of economic
diversification to the economy, the economist scholar said: “Economic
diversification will boost GDP and reduce over dependence on the Southern
African Customs Union (SACU).
The benefit of engaging and strengthening the economic diversification agenda in
the country gives the country’s build of high resilience and
self-dependability on its local production and boost of the GDP. This would
ultimately make the country reduce it’s over reliance on SACU receipts.”
Economic diversification, according to Dr. Choongwa, would promote export growth
for both small medium enterprises (SMEs) and corporates.
He said currently Eswatini’s economy was heavily reliant on imports mainly
from South Africa which constituted approximately 90 per cent of the country’s
imports in comparison of about 65 per cent of exports to the same neighbouring
country.
exploration
As with regards to the exploration of other international markets like the
United States of America, Dr. Choongwa said, research indicated that US exports
to the country accounted for less than one per cent of local imports.
He said the Eswatini Country Commercial guide of 2019 reflected that US imports
from the country accounted for 1.5 per cent of its exports.
Therefore, he said the budget should take advantage of the African trade market.
“If Eswatini engaged in diversification, the chances of taking advantage of
both African and inter-continental trade markets will be very high; Eswatini is
a member of other regional trade organisations like the Southern Africa
Development Community (SADC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
(COMESA - 390 million people), among others.”
On the inter- continental platform, he said, the country still had the privilege
to explore platforms like the World Trade Organisation(WTO) where it would take
advantage of even attracting more productive Foreign Direct Investment(FDI)
which would in turn boost the country’s productivity.