This is very simple comrades. There must be a regime change and Mswati must 
either by force or what. 

The will of the people has always been there but as well the romantic 
relationship between our government that monarch is not assisting our fellow 
brothers and sisters. 

Makasuswe Mswati qha...

Sive 

 






Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

-----Original Message-----
From: Dominic Tweedie <[email protected]>
Sender: [email protected]
Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:13:33 
To: <[email protected]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] IMF: Swaziland crisis worsening

 
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  Business Day 
 
 
 Swaziland’s financial crisis is worsening - IMF 
   
   
 Ed Cropley, Business Day, Johannesburg, 1 September 2011 
   
 THE fiscal crisis gripping Swaziland is deepening despite an emergency R2,4bn 
loan from SA earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said 
yesterday. 
   
 An IMF delegation completed a two-week visit to Swaziland to investigate 
whether it was doing enough to win the fund’s blessing to secure foreign loans. 
Swaziland has failed several times to satisfy demands for greater austerity. 
   
 The IMF has now urged the government of Africa’s last absolute monarchy to 
make further cuts to its bloated budget. 
   
 It gave a candid assessment of reforms so far, saying the appointed 
administration of King Mswati, who has a personal fortune estimated at $200m, 
had missed several targets to cut a budget deficit of more than 14% of gross 
domestic product (GDP). 
   
 "The mission concurred with the authorities’ view that the government will 
continue to face severe liquidity constraints over the coming months, 
notwithstanding the recently announced R2,4bn loan from the South African 
authorities," mission leader Joannes Mongardini said yesterday. 
   
 "The mission advised the government to pass a supplementary budget to cut 
expenditures, while preserving pro- poor spending, and strengthen expenditure 
controls in order to restore fiscal sustainability," Mr Mongardini said. 
   
 The IMF, which has refused to lend money until Swaziland takes a hatchet to 
its large public wage bill, also urged the government to pay back money 
borrowed from the central bank, lest it jeopardise a one-to- one currency peg 
with the rand. 
   
 "Preserving the parity with the South African rand is of utmost priority," Mr 
Mongardini said, adding that Swazi central bank reserves had dropped to $554m, 
or 2,2 months of import cover, as of last Friday. Three months’ cover is widely 
considered the minimum for a stable currency. 
   
 Swaziland’s fiscal problems stem from a 2009 recession in SA that triggered a 
collapse in revenue from the Southern Africa Customs Union that has 
historically accounted for two-thirds of Swaziland’s budget. 
   
 Its government has kept its head above water by using central bank reserves 
and running up at least $180m in unpaid bills. 
   
 Its efforts to cut public spending and raise taxes from a moribund economy 
have met with little success. 
   
 Public services have been slashed in recent months. 
   
 The University of Swaziland failed to open on August 8 for the final semester 
of the year and public hospitals have run out of medicines for patients. 
   
 "The mission observed that economic activity remains subdued and inflation is 
on the rise," Mr Mongardini warned. "Electricity consumption, which can be used 
as a coincident indicator of economic activity in the absence of quarterly GDP 
data, declined in May while broad money growth remained subdued in June." 
   
 However, Swazi Finance Minister Majozi Sithole said the IMF targets were 
unreasonable. 
   
 "The IMF has certain targets of their own with a view to push us to do certain 
things," he said. "We have no objection to that, but they had made so many 
assumptions that are not reasonable. They are pushing certain things that will 
probably cause more problems than answers." 
   
 The budget crunch sparked unprecedented public protests against King Mswati, 
who is accused of running the country as his personal fiefdom. 
   
 Dissident groups inside and outside the country where political parties are 
banned are hoping the cash crunch will force political change. Reuters, with 
Sapa-AFP 
   
 
From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=152175 
   
   
   

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