BACKWARDS IS NOT AN OPTION!

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One step forward, three steps back. This is the disappointing performance of the country in the latest World Bank report on the ease of doing business rankings. 

We have slumped from 108 to 111 of 190 countries.
Lack of improvements in processes for starting business, getting electricity, poor protection of investors and poor enforcement of contracts have  been cited as the reasons behind the slump.

A rude welcome indeed for the new Minister for Commerce Trade and Industry Minister Jabulani Mabuza indeed. Is this the consequence of the internal squabbles that engulfed this ministry for the better part of the year which caused it to lose focus on what mattered most? Most probably.
Enviously, our sister kingdom, Lesotho, has climbed 12 places up the rankings as did Tanzania. We now sit 11 places behind these countries. How did they manage to jump so high?

It is evident that that these countries spent time and effort in working on removing all the bottlenecks that turn investors away and the results are there to be celebrated. 

For Swaziland, there was hope that the strategies adopted under the Investor Roadmap team were making a positive impact when we rose one level to 108 the previous year. So what happened?

The current results present a major setback for the country’s drive towards creating a conducive business environment to attract the required investors to create job for the thousands of jobless Swazis.

If the latest results do not serve as a serious wake up call for an urgent need for a change of mindset towards managing this economy, then we ought to brace ourselves for worse things to come.

We are, however, consoled by the positive news that Swaziland has the best trade borders in the region. Our Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA) must be doing something right which comes as no surprise given their record of meeting their targets that are now saving this economy from total collapse.

They say a new broom sweeps cleaner. We therefore, hope our new minister can help sweep the rankings to give us a much improved pecking come 2018.

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