BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg has today tabled a budget of E29.42.
The Minister tabled the Budget Speech in the House of Assembly, setting a tone of what government plans to do in the 2024/25 fiscal year.
The highly anticipated Budge Speech was well attended, as the House was packed to capacity.
The attendants included Cabinet Ministers, under the leadership of Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini, Members of Parliament (MPs), members of the public, pupils from various schools, as well as their teachers. Directing his address to House of Assembly Speaker Jabulani Mabuza, Rijkenberg said the budget was going to be increased this year, compared to the E26.4 billion that he tabled last year.
“Mr. Speaker, total expenditure for the financial year 2024/25 is expected to be E29.42 billion. This includes public debt payments of E4.5 billion. The appropriated recurrent expenditure is set to be E20.24 billion, an increase of 9.3 percent compared to previous year,” Rijkenberg said.
He further said the total budget allocation to capital programmes amounted to E6.34 billion, increased at last year’s budget allocation. The total expenditure for 2024/25 reviews for an increase of 11.3 percent, compared to last year’s budget of E26.4 billion.
Concerning the revenue, Rijkenberg said Government revenue, excluding grants in the 2024/25 fiscal year was projected to reach E26.99 billion, which was 28.8 percent of GDP, an increase of 1.1 percent on 2023/24. Of this, SACU receipts increased from E11.75 billion in 2023/24 to E13.07 billion in 2024/25. Non-SACU revenue increased from E13.16 billion to E15.41 billion, a growth of 17 percent.
According to the Minister, total income taxes are projected to increase by close to 12.4 percent from an estimate of E7.20 billion in 2023/24 to about E8.09 billion in 2024/25. This is because of higher expected growth and employment in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24. Out of this, corporate income taxes are expected to grow from E1.78 billion the previous year to E2.01 billion in 2024/25. Similarly, personal income taxes are expected to grow by 12.6 percent to E5.26 billion.
The Minister said taxes on goods and services, excluding SACU receipts, were expected to increase by 11.5 percent to E6.57 billion. VAT, according to Rijkenberg, is expected to grow by 13.4 percent to E5.09 billion. Fuel taxes are expected to grow by 5.4 percent, amounting to E1.39 billion. The levy on imported vehicles is projected to grow around 8.3 percent, from E12 million to E13 million.
Even though things may look better going forward, the Minister warned Emaswati not to be carried away. “Be that as it may Mr. Speaker, I wish to caution that, even though there has been a significant increase again in this year’s revenue, I feel the need to inform the nation that crafting the budget is always a surprisingly difficult balance of allocating the limited resources to the most needed areas. At any given point in time, the resources available never match the competing needs of our beloved EmaSwati,” he said.
