By EPN Reporter
MBABANE – If things go according to plan, civil servants might find themselves smiling all the way to the bank, as their salaries might be increased this year.
Emaswati who rely on social grants, such as elderly and disability grants, will also benefit, should the salary increment plan be realised this year. Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo is optimistic that this year, such might be realised and the civil servants might be happy.
Nxumalo said this during an interview with Eswatini TV, which was asking him about the on-going Cabinet Work Retreat taking place at Royal Villas in Ezulwini. Nxumalo said the envisaged salary increment might take place after all the necessary steps had been followed by government and the civil servants.
This happens at a time when Eswatini has been hailed as a country that was seen to be doing well in terms of economic growth in the past financial year. According to the World Bank, Eswatini has been described as a country, whose economy was the fastest growing in the SADC region, in terms of the gross domestic product (GDP).
The GDP is said to have grown by 7.4 percent in 2021, according to the World Bank. In 2022, the country was ranked as the sixth most industrialised country in the African continent. This has probably resulted in Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg announcing that Eswatini would receive around E13 billion as its share from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). Minister Rijkenberg even went as far as promising Emaswati that they would personally feel the milestones achieved by the country.
As a result, Emaswati have thrown a challenge on government to ensure that they felt the economic growth that was being talked about. Speaking about the economic growth during the interview, Nxumalo said the country had made a significant achievement, which needed to be celebrated. However, Nxumalo mentioned that there were challenges that needed to be addressed urgently to ensure that the economic growth was sustained.
“The economy that has improved relies very much on services, rather than manufacturing, production and agriculture,” Nxumalo said. He went on to state that during the retreat, the Cabinet, under the leadership of Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini, was in the process of coming up with strategies to ensure that many sectors were included in the economy so that the country could produce more goods, rather than relying on services.
