Swaziland: not good on implementation
Swaziland: Long On Policies But Short On Implementation
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
Swaziland's ability to cope with its ongoing humanitarian crisis will not improve until its under-performing economy picks up, social welfare activists and the government agree.In a policy speech this week, outlining the government's goals for the year ahead, Prime Minister Themba Dlamini frankly acknowledged the country's economic woes, which are hampering efforts to roll back food shortages, AIDS and poverty ... real gross domestic product per capita "still remains the lowest among the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) countries" ... Economic growth averaged just 2 percent over the past five years, well below the annual population increase of 3.6 percent ... unemployment hovers around 30 percent, and has reached 40 percent for school leavers ... "There will not be economic improvement until there is a transparent, accountable and democratic government to set economic policy," a source with the Swaziland Federation of Labour told IRIN. "Investors are staying away, but we are faced with a chicken-and-egg situation in the labour movement: workers need to raise their voices and be united, but they are afraid to take a risk because of widespread joblessness." ... Government strategy is to pour money into expanding the Matsapha Industrial Estate outside the central commercial hub, Manzini, and the creation of new industrial parks in the far southern and western parts of the country. The approach is: "if we build the facilities, the investors will come", remarked Maxwell Shongwe of the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development ...
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
Swaziland's ability to cope with its ongoing humanitarian crisis will not improve until its under-performing economy picks up, social welfare activists and the government agree.In a policy speech this week, outlining the government's goals for the year ahead, Prime Minister Themba Dlamini frankly acknowledged the country's economic woes, which are hampering efforts to roll back food shortages, AIDS and poverty ... real gross domestic product per capita "still remains the lowest among the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) countries" ... Economic growth averaged just 2 percent over the past five years, well below the annual population increase of 3.6 percent ... unemployment hovers around 30 percent, and has reached 40 percent for school leavers ... "There will not be economic improvement until there is a transparent, accountable and democratic government to set economic policy," a source with the Swaziland Federation of Labour told IRIN. "Investors are staying away, but we are faced with a chicken-and-egg situation in the labour movement: workers need to raise their voices and be united, but they are afraid to take a risk because of widespread joblessness." ... Government strategy is to pour money into expanding the Matsapha Industrial Estate outside the central commercial hub, Manzini, and the creation of new industrial parks in the far southern and western parts of the country. The approach is: "if we build the facilities, the investors will come", remarked Maxwell Shongwe of the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development ...