By Bahle Gama and Ncaba Ntshakala
The government of Eswatini is looking forward to a good year in 2025, with an anticipated growth in the economy.
In a Finance in Focus for the Year video posted by the Ministry of Finance, Minister Neal Rijkenberg highlighted that the country is at an 8.3 per cent growth, which has been the highest to be achieved by the country in a very long time.
The Minister said in 2025, the government is hoping for expansion on expenditure, highlighting that the country is recovering from a very tough time during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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However, in 2023, there was double-digit growth in the amounts spent by the government, stimulating the economy in the process, with about 5 per cent growth.
Again, in 2024 Eswatini had a double-digit expansion in expenditure, driving growth.
“Now, we’re looking at about 3.6 per cent, but based on there’s a rebasing that took place. But it’s probably around about 5 per cent as well.
Now 2025, once again, we’re hoping for that kind of expansion on expenditure.
And at the same time, we are now looking at a predicted growth of 8.3%. So, we’re in a very good season, emaSwati, and, really believing and hoping that this can start driving through.
So, that our nation, that our people can really start feeling the impacts of this growth on the ground. Now, what I thought of talking about today and touching on is, that in a country, we’re doing many different projects,” Rijkenberg said.
‘E30 bln Mkhondvi-Ngwavuma project biggest in country’
Minister Neal Rijkenberg has described the Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma project as the biggest and best project the country is currently implementing.
The E30 billion project by the Ministry of Agriculture has two catchment areas, in that when the rain falls, it flows down either the Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma area, in the south or the Mkhondvo area, which then lands up in the dams that are currently irrigating a lot of sugar around the Big Bend and Simunye areas.
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“And so, but what we are doing is now, we’re building a dam in the Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma catchment area, the Mpakeni Dam.
This dam is currently under construction, it’s being built as we speak, and it’s going well.
We also have financed the canal that now takes the water from that dam to the irrigated areas.
Now, keeping in mind that this dam is currently going to be able to irrigate about 8,000 hectares, we need more water.
So, what we are planning on doing is building a dam also in the Mkhondvo catchment area, around Mketeni, there’s a big dam planned for that area,” he said.
The Minister said if the dam and a pipeline under the mountain range can be built at Hlatikhulu, water will be taken from the Mkhondvo catchment where there is an excess of water that flows into the sea every year.
