…Restructuring of parastatals in progress
BY KWANELE TSABEDZE
MBABANE – Seven parastatals have been earmarked as those with an opportunity to play in an even bigger role in developing the country’s economy.
This was according to the World Bank report which has been recently approved by the Cabinet. Speaking to the media about the report, Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg commended the recommendations of the report and discussed how the Government is considering restructuring the current parastatals in the country.
“We do have certain entities that we have to reconsider and look at the operations and see what we need to do. We have done a very in-depth report with the World Bank and with different entities with ESEPARC leading the team,” said the Minister about the formulation of the report and its findings.
He further went on to discuss the different ways the parastatals will be restructured to ensure that they are economically valuable and efficient.
“The report is referring to leaving some certain agencies running as they are, merging some of them together, having certain regulators in the same building working together, bringing one or two back into the Ministries, privatising one or two, shutting one or two down,” said the Minister.
He added that the restructuring will reduce the number of parastatals from 49 to about 30, following that recommendations have been approved by Cabinet.
The Minister revealed that other recommendations included the civil service payroll.
The World Bank Report, which was published in the past weeks, also forecasts that Eswatini’s economy can grow by 3% in 2023-2024 if the fiscal recommendations are followed. It mentioned that seven big parastatals can have more of a positive influence on the economy, including the Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC), Eswatini Water Services Corporation (EWSC), and Eswatini Railways among others.
