EZULWINI - The Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) has reaffirmed its commitment to growing the country’s official foreign exchange reserves, while safeguarding a stable and balanced banking environment.
Governor Dr Phil Mnisi made the commitment during a high-level engagement with seven chief executives from Standard Bank’s Southern African operations, who were in the country as part of an information-sharing mission aimed at strengthening dialogue between regional banking leaders and monetary authorities.
The engagement focused on Eswatini’s macroeconomic outlook, the performance of the banking sector and the Central Bank’s policy priorities in the context of heightened global economic uncertainty and tightening financial conditions.
Dr Mnisi said building adequate levels of official reserves remains a key policy priority, particularly for a small open economy such as Eswatini operating within the Common Monetary Area (CMA). “Our focus is to steadily grow official reserves to support the currency peg, strengthen external buffers and sustain confidence in the financial system,” he said.
According to the latest Central Bank’s statistics, provisional gross official reserves amounted to E11.4 billion in December 2025. This reflected a sharp month-on-month contraction of 26.2 per cent, although reserves still recorded a year-on-year increase of 12.9 per cent. The Central Bank attributed the drawdown largely to net foreign currency outflows arising from trades with commercial banks. As a result, import cover weakened from 3.6 months in November 2025 to 2.7 months in December 2025.
In Special Drawing Rights (SDR) terms, reserves declined by 27.5 per cent month-on-month, but rose by 17.0 per cent year-on-year to reach SDR481.0 million in December 2025.
Dr Mnisi said the recent movements in reserves underscored the importance of prudent external sector management and continued collaboration with the banking sector to ensure reserve adequacy is restored and maintained over the medium term.
Alongside reserve accumulation, the governor stressed the importance of maintaining a balanced and resilient banking environment that supports economic activity without compromising financial stability.
“Our mandate is to ensure a sound, competitive and well-capitalised banking system that can support productive investment while remaining resilient to both domestic and external shocks,” he said.
The governor also highlighted developments in banking sector liquidity, noting that conditions have continued to strengthen despite pressures on the external sector.
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The Central Bank of Eswatini Governor, Dr Phil Mnisi (L) with some of the seven chief executives from Standard Bank’s Southern African operations. (Courtesy pic)