Fonden mener, at økonomien i det lille kongedømme mellem Sydafrika og Mozambique på længere sigt vil bryde sammen. Men landets økonomiminister siger afvisende, at økonomien er under kontrol i Swaziland, tidl. kaldt “Afrikas Grækenland”.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirms that Swaziland’s economy is in dire trouble, writes the Swaziland Newsletter in its latest edition Friday.
Finance Minister Majozi Sithole, nevertheless, last month said that receipts (modtagelse) of 1,1 billion US dollar due this year to Swaziland, mostly from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), meant, the opposite.
“I can safely say the economy is now under control. We have survived the worst economic challenges ever”,stated he
Then, earlier this month, the Times of Swaziland newspaper reported in a headline, ‘Financial crisis in Swaziland is over – IMF’. It said, ‘It is now official; Swaziland is out of the financial crisis it had plunged into since 2010, the IMF has declared.’
But this week, the IMF published one of its regular assessments of the state of Swaziland’s economy, based on information gathered after a visit to the kingdom.
The IMF reported the Swaziland economy ‘will be unsustainable over the medium term and subject to significant downside risks’. It said there needed to be ‘upfront (hurtige) expenditure cuts, including on the wage bill’.
The IMF said that in the recent past the government had repaid some of its debt but this was ‘partly achieved through cuts in education, health, and other poverty-alleviating spending’.
To underline the state of the economy, the IMF said:
“Swaziland’s economic prospects remain difficult and that, without credible and comprehensive fiscal adjustment and structural reforms, the current fiscal and external position will be unsustainable over the medium term and subject to significant downside risks”.
Sithole has yet to respond publicly to the statement.
See also
‘TIMES’ LIES OVER ECONOMIC RECOVERY
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/02/times-lies-over-economic-recovery.html
ECONOMY: IMPOSSIBLE TO CUT POVERTY
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2013/02/economy-impossible-to-cut-poverty.html
Kilde: Swaziland Newsletter No. 290 – 22 February 2013
News from and about Swaziland, compiled by Africa Contact, Denmark (www.afrika.dk) in collaboration with Swazi Media Commentary (www.swazimedia.blogspot.com), and sent to all with an interest in Swaziland – free of charge.
