STATEMENT BY THE RT. HON PRIME MINISTER
MR AMBROSE M. DLAMINI
AT THE OPENING OF CABINET RETREAT-KINGDOM OF ESWATINI
PIGGS PEAK HOTEL
MONDAY 14 JANUARY 2019
Your Royal Highnesses
Honourable Chiefs
My Colleagues Ministers of the Crown
Distinguished presenters
Ladies and Gentlemen
May I welcome all of you to this Cabinet Retreat and thank you for making time for this extremely important forum which is at the axis of the socio-economic evolution of our country?.It is my sincere belief that proper planning is a crucial component of any undertaking.
In the wake of the Economic downturn the country is facing everybody is expected to play a role in the quest for a tangible turnaround and Cabinet Ministers have an unavoidable duty to lead the way. That is why we are here today. We can never get to proper delivery without proper planning. It is in proper planning that we stand a chance to develop success from failures.
The unbecoming fiscal challenges continue to be with us but leadership is doing all it can to contain the situation. We are positive that the country will come out of this in the medium term. It will be not be easy and quicker. It requires discipline and sacrifice .
Government has made breakthroughs in some areas of operation already despite the economic downturn the country faces. Government arrears pending with the Treasury department have been reduced from 3.5 Billion Emalangeni at the end of October to 2.1 Billion Emalangeni by the end of December 2018. Contributing to the favourable cash-flow position are multiple factors. Some are structural while others are as a result of control measures employed by Government that have started to bear fruit.
Before leaving office the outgoing Cabinet in July 2018 announced suspension of capital projects in excess of 500 Million Emalangeni and hiring freeze. When the new Cabinet assumed office early November it advanced the agenda by suspending all Government Tenders and tightened Government’s travel policy through a statement that was made on 22nd November 2018. Also supporting this positive development is the increased revenue collections by Eswatini Revenue Authority.
Through this statement , we have observed improving confidence in the domestic debt market that saw Government Treasury Bills and Bonds pricing increasingly matching those of similar papers in the Republic of South Africa, against which we benchmark ourselves. Government has been able to raise over 450 Million Emalangeni over above the planned weekly issuances.
On the other hand, the country’s foreign reserves have improved to 3.4 months of imports beginning January 2019. This is a slight improvement from the 2.9 months recorded by the end of December, 2018. The improvement is as a result of the quarterly SACU inflow of 1.4 Billion Emalangeni that we have been receiving in the 2018/19 fiscal year. This should indeed be confirmation that as a country we had only crushed but not crumbled economically.
We would like to appeal to all civil servants to bear with us on the issue of Cost Of Living Adjustment {COLA}. Government does not yet have the means to meet this demand. May we therefore kindly call for responsible thinking and logical behavior among all those affected by the current financial state of affairs faced by our country particularly at a time like this when everybody is expected to put should on the wheel to change the situation. We all have a duty to put out country first. We therefore appeal for calm and understanding.
In the quest for a solid Economic Recovery Roadmap we have put together a solid programme for this Cabinet Retreat. Our topics for presentation and deliberations include Building the Economy of Eswatini- External and Internal strategic interventions; Unlocking Opportunities In The Financial Sector And Fiscal Prudence.
In conclusion I would like to commend Emaswati for the calm and peacefulness that prevailed during the entire festive season . Incwala too went through so smoothly to the end on Friday when the King & INgwenyama dispersed Emabutfo. To all EMaswati, may this 2019 be the moment your fortunes have been waiting for.
I thank you