BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Government is working on decreasing its dependence on foreign aid, especially on health matters.
This was said by Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini on March 17, 2025 when he appeared before senators who are members of the portfolio committee of the Private and Cabinet Offices. He appeared before the senators so that they could debate the 2024/25 performance of the Private and Cabinet Offices.
Dlamini said one of the ways in which the country would decrease foreign aid dependence would be the establishment of the Sovereign Wealth Fund. The premier said the Sovereign Wealth Fund would enable the country to produce enough wealth so that it could be able to be self-sustainable.
He said Ministries such as of Commerce, Industry, and Trade; Economic Planning and Development; and Public Works and Transport have worked on the establishment of the fund. Dlamini said apart from making the country self-sustainable, the fund would also create generational wealth for future Emaswati. He thanked all organisations that have contributed in helping the government establish the fund.
On January 20, 2025, during the first day of the 2025 Cabinet Retreat, which was held at Royal Villas, Ezulwini, the prime minister informed the nation that the establishment of the fund had begun. “The process of establishing a Sovereign Wealth Fund has begun, and will be completed by the end of this fiscal year,” Dlamini said.
This Sovereign Wealth Fund, according to the premier, should be able to cushion the nation and stabilise the country’s economy, while generating wealth for future generations to come. He said it was a proven fact that countries that had established Sovereign Wealth Funds had been able to achieve exponential economic growth for the wealth of their nations.
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), a Sovereign Wealth Fund is simply a mechanism through which countries make investments. A pot of money – often derived from oil or other commodities – that is then invested in shares, bonds, property or other areas of potential growth.
Many of the countries that use sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have economies that are heavily reliant on one source of income, for example oil revenues in Norway and the Middle East. The investments made through the SWFs are effectively a way for those countries to diversify and become less reliant on a single stream of income.
