Mbabane – The Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkerberg, said government cash flow challenges are expected to ease within the next month, supported by seasonal tax revenue and fresh external financing.
Speaking during today’s Finance in Focus update at the Ministry of Finance, Rijkerberg said, “As I have mentioned before, December normally is a better tax month. We normally raise about half a billion more in tax in December, and that is going to add relief.”
He revealed that government recently secured two major loans to ease liquidity pressures. “The one from the African Development Bank should be coming in now, which means that within the next week that money should be flowing in. It should give a lot of relief to the government cash flow system,” Rijkerberg said. The facility amounts to E855 million (US$47.5 million). A E900 million (US$50 million) loan from the OPEC Fund is expected in January alongside Southern African Customs Union receipts.
“Between all of these, we absolutely foresee that we’re going to be able to settle suppliers 100% and really get the cash flow of the government back on track as it should be,” Rijkerberg added, noting that government finances should be in a much better position in about a month’s time.
The minister also provided updates on reforms to revenue collection. “As I might have mentioned before, we are planning on shutting down the government revenue offices and transferring that to be under ERS,” he said. As part of the transition, ERS has partnered with the Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation to use post offices as revenue payment points. “What we can announce is that so far the Manzini post office and the Mbabane post office are both open for business, and anyone paying revenue can now go and pay at those two post offices,” Rijkerberg said.
He acknowledged initial challenges during the rollout, including isolated cases where receipts were not immediately recognised. “There’s a rollout of post offices opening up for revenue work, and we’ll continue announcing on a weekly basis which ones do that,” Rijkerberg said, noting the decentralised system would make revenue services more accessible and efficient.
The minister also spoke about moving towards digital payments. “We’re moving more and more onto digital payments so that people do not even need to go stand in a queue. You can actually do this from your cell phone or from your laptop,” he said. He indicated that within a few months, the transition away from traditional revenue offices should be largely complete.
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