Times Of Swaziland: DRIVERS OF PROSPERITY

DRIVERS OF PROSPERITY
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The Editor on 12/09/2019 00:18:00


Sir,
With a decline in economic growth, coupled with a rise in inflation and high
basic commodities, it is fair to say we are worse off.
The fact that money is now harder to come by we desperately need to stimulate
the economy with business activity.
Depending on how long this economic slump will last, expectations are that
individuals will find it harder to service their mortgages and personal loans
thus attracting repossessions and auctions of properties whose values will
decline as they try to make a quick sell. We can also expect banks to be less
friendly.
Agriculture has been identified by government as our saviour. Less is being done
to discourage the outflow of profits by all who do business here.
So why target the poor?
Citizens have also been called upon to make use of arable land to cultivate
crops, yet we are seeing those entrusted with authority over land in rural
communities turning fields into townships, some illegally and this results in
mass evictions.
Self-sufficiency
It is obvious that drought is not the biggest threat to our food
self-sufficiency objectives but poor land administration.
When are we to resolve this problem once and for all?
Foreign Direct Investment is also an area that has seen very little activity
over the past decade and does this sit well with the relevant stakeholders?
Over the past years Africa has enjoyed massive growth and the continent was
described as the world’s next best destination for investment; so where are
investors looking if they are not coming our way?
Rwanda has less than a third of Angola’s wealth, yet it has been far more
successful at creating a prosperous country.
By far the most important drivers of prosperity, alongside a country’s ability
to generate wealth, are the promotion of civil liberties, a strong rule of law
and effective institutions as well as a diversified economy.
By making these structural changes, Eswatini could start to see levels of
prosperity rising quite rapidly.
M Dlamini