BY TSABEDZE KWANELE
MBABANE- Consumers first!
This is the value which seemingly drives the engagements between economic players in the country. The most recent development was the meeting between Business Eswatini and suppliers in the country to determine how they can ensure that changing prices do not negatively affect the consumer in a significant way.
The meeting took place yesterday in Mbabane.
Businesses Eswatini Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nathi E Dlamini described the meeting importance as the national lockdown and the pandemic affected retail outs in a number of ways.
“The second thing is, businesses were negatively affected. However, that happened in another era. Today, we are looking into a way forward. We have wholesalers and retailers and we’re trying to figure out how we help them as Business Eswatini,” said Dlamini.
Dlamini noted that the cost of living in the country was going higher, which was also a global crisis.
The CEO revealed that the retailers and wholesalers in the country were exploring ways to reduce the inflating cost of products, which included ensuring that they sourced as many products as possible from local producers.
The Business Eswatini CEO expressed gratitude at the effort to collaborate in stabilising the economy by all the different players in the value chain. He particularly thanked the Ministry of Finance for participating in the meeting as well as the entire process.
Inflation in the world has been on the rise ever since the war in Europe began. This is because gas, grain and fertiliser prices were increased, which led to increasing prices of commodities across the board. This has left regional and national governments to try and stabilise their economies and Business Eswatini is a big part of this process as the umbrella organisation for businesses in the country.
“With everything we do, we essentially aim to build the nation,” remarked Dlamini.
