BY SIFISO NHLABATSI
MBABANE – Government is prioritising payments to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as part of efforts to ease financial pressure on businesses, with E130 million recently paid towards outstanding micro-project obligations.
Minister for Finance Neal Rijkenberg told Parliament that government recognised the critical role played by SMEs in the economy and was deliberately directing available resources towards smaller suppliers and contractors.
Responding to a question from Matsanjeni South MP Sabelo Ndlangamandla, Rijkenberg agreed that SMEs were major employers and played a crucial role in putting money into the hands of ordinary emaSwati.
“SMEs do have a major impact; they really are a large employer of the people and they really put money in people’s hands,” said Rijkenberg.
The minister said the E130 million paid towards micro projects formed part of a broader strategy to ensure that smaller businesses did not carry the heaviest burden of government’s outstanding payments.
Government had previously faced close to E1 billion in unpaid supplier obligations. However, following the receipt of provisional tax and SACU revenue at the end of June, Treasury was able to release almost E500 million in payments.
The outstanding amount has since been reduced to about E420 million, with smaller suppliers accounting for E57 million of the total.
Rijkenberg said prioritising SMEs was important because delayed payments could have a direct impact on businesses that depended heavily on government contracts to pay workers, suppliers and other operating costs.
However, he acknowledged that this approach also meant larger outstanding amounts could accumulate in capital and infrastructure projects.
The E130 million paid to micro projects, he admitted, was still only a fraction of the money owed for work that had already been completed.
“It is a drop in the bucket,” the minister said, while stressing that government was continuing to make payments every week as funds became available.
He said health suppliers had also received payments last week following pressure within the health supply system.
“Every week we’re trying our best to pay what we can,” Rijkenberg said.
The latest payment is expected to provide much-needed relief to micro-project contractors, many of whom are small businesses whose cash flow depends on the timely settlement of completed government work.
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