…..inflation rate down to 3.6 percent
BY MBONGENI NDLELA
MBABANE – Suppliers can once again breathe a sigh of relief, as the government has received about E3.25 billion in the past week.
This publication can exclusively reveal that the country has received about E3.25 billion from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). The money was deposited to government accounts in the first week of this month, (October 2024). This is the third batch to be received by Eswatini from SACU receipts this financial year, according to government.
Eswatini already received its SACU share in April, July, and October.
Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg confirmed to this publication that Eswatini has received E3.25 billion this month.
“We received the money during the first week of October 2024,” he said.
It is worth noting that for the 2024/2025 financial year, Eswatini is again receiving the highest SACU receipts. It was reported that in this financial year, Eswatini will receive a total of E13.06 billion in SACU receipts.
Compared to the 2023/2024 level, SACU revenue for 2024/25 grew by 11.15 per cent. In the 2023/2024 financial year, the country’s SACU receipts were E11.75 billion and were 102 per cent higher than the E5.8 billion of 2022/2023.
SACU consists of Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini.
All customs, excise, and additional duties (trade taxes) collected in the SACU common customs area, are paid into the common revenue pool and shared among member States. Member States’ share of the pool is disbursed or determined by the SACU agreement’s revenue-sharing formula. The current revenue-sharing formula has three components; the Customs Component, the Excise Component and the Development Component. The Customs share is allocated based on each country’s share of intra-SACU imports.
Meanwhile, it has also been reported that Eswatini’s inflation rate continued its downward course in September 2024 to 3.6 per cent for goods and 3.7 per cent for services, offering some relief to consumers and businesses.
This is contained in the Central Statistics Office (CSO) CPI report for September.
