Eswatini Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg believes the country has “turned a corner”.
“We believe there’s not a problem we can’t solve,” he said during an official visit by African Development Bank Group President Akinwumi Adesina.
“The indicators are turning from an unsustainable future to a sustainable future,” he said.
“The new government, which took office after elections in November 2018, has adopted a strategic roadmap to guide the economic recovery.”
The new administration has been dubbed “the Cabinet of CEOs” given its strong corporate background. About a third of the 18-member cabinet are former CEOs, including Rijkenberg.
The recovery plan has included tackling expenditure and the budget deficit.
Of particular interest to Adesina is the Lower Usuthu irrigation project (LUSIP), to which the Bank contributed financing of about $13.04 million, amounting to around 11% of the cost. It has allowed more than 20 000 smallholder farmers to upscale their mostly sugar cane crops into commercial farming. At its launch in 2003, the surrounding area consisted of a single street and a few houses. Since then, as a result of the agricultural boom, Siphofaneni has become a fully fledged town.
LUSIP consists of two phases. The first phase involved investing in large-scale dams, reservoirs and canals to meet farmers’ demand for water in a cost-efficient way. Three dams were built to form a reservoir to store water diverted from wet season flood flows in the Great Usuthu River.
Phase two of the project is still in development and the Bank is the lead financier contributing $55 million. The Bank is also processing a grant of $2 million to prepare the Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmentation Programme, which is expected to be a game changer in the southern region of Eswatini and across the borders in Mozambique and South Africa.
