Ezulwini – In a pointed critique of the recently unveiled national budget, independent economist, Thembinkosi Dube, has voiced concerns that the financial plan presented by the Minister for Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, last month fails to adequately address subject areas such as poverty and unemployment.
Speaking at the Post-Budget Seminar held at the Central Bank of Eswatini on Friday as one of the panelists, Dube said most of Emaswati do not feel the minister’ pro-growth budget speech.
“I feel there is a gap from where you are and where the man on the street is” he said.
“If I can speak in Siswati I would say sihlangene ngetulu njengelihlinzafuku. In other words, where you are, it’s good what you are presenting. But if you go down, there is a gap. People don’t necessarily feel the budget speech.”
The Post-Budget Seminar was attended, among others, by the Minister for Finance, parliamentarians, and private sector leaders.
Dube said the government presented a good budget but still had a lot of gaps to close.
@independentnewses National Budget fails to address poverty and unemployment, says Thembinkosi Dube. #IndependentNewsEswatini #EswatiniBudget #eswatinitiktok🇸🇿 ♬ Enchanted (STEM strings 2) – Altitude Music / BMGPM
Dube said he noted that the budget made mention of combating corruption and addressing unemployment but that the government was still doing less to address these issues.
“We still see the corruption and we still feel it. I think we need to fix that.”
There issue of unemployment remains a major problem. And you have a wonderful budget speech. The plans that you put are good but the young people as I speak to you are in the shops around trying to get themselves busy. they are not doing anything. So, I feel the budget has less to do with that,” Dube said.
On tax, the economist said the tax system does not provide any incentives for the younger entrepreneurs.
Dube said it is a concern that the government does look out for start-up entrepreneurs, stating that Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) still treats the same way as small and medium entreprises as those that have been in industry for long.
“We need incentives for those founders of the businesses if they are legitimate and there is a positive contribution to the economy,” he said.
Dube also said start-ups also pay the 25 percent tax, urging the government to address provisional tax issues from continuing to escalate interest charges.
He said without these addresses, businesses eventually close.
Dube said there was concerns with less consumer spending.
Echoing Dube’s sentiments, the Chairperson of the Finance Portfolio Committee in the House of Assembly, Member of Parliament (MP) Marwick Khumalo urged the Minister of Finance to be sensitive to political decisions that tend to negatively impact the economy.
Dube had spoken as the third panelist after the Business Eswatini (BE) Chief Executive Officer Nathi Dlamini, Coordinating Assembly of NGOs (CANGO)’s Ndimphiwe Shabangu.
BE said they were not diametrically opposed to the presented ‘pro-growth’ budget but said that the financial environment remains unchanged stating that there will come a time whereby their debate would be on a revised budget.
“What is not debatable is that we need to find ingenious ways to mitigate these potential risks,” Dlamini said.
CANGO said that there was concern on inflation with the electricity and water fees increments having an effect on the household income and also calling for more national investments in quality education.
Meanwhile, the Minister identified poverty and unemployment as major hurdles for economic growth, stating that the government will use the growth strategy to eliminate such.
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