By Ntombi Mhlongo
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A budget of E3 million has been allocated for the Kingdom of Eswatini to host the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU) Summit.
The figure is contained in a report detailing fiscal and monetary affairs where the Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg revealed that the proposed budget in the 2023/24 allocation is E609 million which he said was an increase of about E27.3 million when compared to the financial year that is coming to an end.
Explaining the key modifications in the budget with justifications, the minister said the E27.3 million increase has been driven upwards due to the E23.8 million increase in subvention to the Eswatini Revenue Services (ERS) and the allocation of E3 million which is being provided for the SACU Summit.
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As has been the case in previous years, Member States including Eswatini as the summit host and current chair are expected to gather for the summit in July this year.
The other members are the Republic of Botswana which was the summit host and the current chair last year, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Namibia and the Republic of South Africa.Â
  SACU is the oldest customs union in the world and its summit is held annually to discuss progress on the implementation of its agreed-upon Work Programme.Â
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This year, the summit is expected to discuss progress made on the implementation of various programmes including us programmes for industrialisation through the development of regional value chains, investment attraction and export promotion, regional financing mechanisms, trade facilitations and logistics and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).Â
The Kingdom of Eswatini assumed the Chairmanship of the SACU Summit, Council of Ministers and Commission on July 15, 2022, and its rem ends on July 13, 2023.
GTThe SACU Chairmanship rotates among the Member States for twelve months, in alphabetical order.
