BY BUSINESS EDITOR
MBABANE – Consumers will soon start spending more on their groceries as inflation has increased by over 1.5 per cent.
The country’s annual consumer inflation rose to 5.0 per cent for the month of October, it hiked by 1.5 per cent, from 3.5 per cent in September.
This was mentioned by the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) in the recently analysed economic developments issued on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, The amount of loans given to enterprises increased by 1.8% last month, ending in November 2023 at E18.9 billion. The prior month, the sum was E18.6 billion.
The Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) referred to this in their most recent monthly statistical report covering the months of October and November.
According to CBE, the credit given to the private sector increased by 1.0% year over year and 1.8% from the previous month to end of the month under review at E18.9 billion.
“Credit to households, businesses, and non-profit organisations serving households increased” (NPISH). However, during the course of the month under review, credit to other segments of the domestic economy decreased, according to CBE.
The credit provided to the business sector increased by 2.3% month over month and 11.5% year over year to reach E9.4 billion at the end of October 2023, they added.
The following subsectors were credited with the improvement: distribution & tourism (6.6%), construction (4.9%), real estate (2.2%), community, social & personal services (2.7%), manufacturing (1.1%), and transport & communication (1.1%). The report stated that a decrease in lending to the mining and quarrying (-4.2%) and agriculture and forestry (-3.9%) subsectors somewhat offset the gain.
As of the end of October 2023, the broad money supply (M2) stood at E22.7 billion, increasing 2.8% month over month and 7.5% year over year, respectively.
According to CBE, the improvement in net foreign assets and private sector lending was consistent with the rise in M2. They claimed that both the quasi-money supply and the narrow money supply (M1) showed an increase in M2.
The monthly report also revealed that, by the end of October 2023, the quasi-money supply had increased by 5.9 per cent annually and 4.1% monthly to reach E13.8 billion. The month-over-month increase in quasi-money was caused by time and savings deposits, according to CBE’s additional analysis.
“Time and savings deposits went up by 4.7 per cent to E11.7 billion and 0.8 per cent to E2.1 billion, respectively. M1 stood at E8.8 billion at the end of October 2023, reflecting a month-on-month and year-on-year growth of 0.8 per cent and 10.0 per cent, respectively,” added the bank.
The expansion in M1 was attributed to transferable (demand) deposits, which rose by 1.2 per cent to E8.0 billion. Emalangeni outside depository corporations, on the other hand, receded by 3.5 per cent to E820.6 billion at the end of October 2023.
