High transport costs hinder Swazi exports

JAMES HALL
MBABANE – Swaziland’s exports are not competitive on international markets because of high shipping costs required out of the landlocked country, according to Swaziland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. “Transportation costs result in higher prices for locally-produced products, making them uncompetitive in overseas markets,” the ministry report stated. It sought factors that negatively affected Swazi exports, as part of an assessment made for the United States African Growth and Opportunity Act. Swaziland’s goods enjoy preferential trade treatment under Agoa, which runs to 2015. But offsetting such advantages as quota and tax-free entry into the American market for Swazi products is their higher cost due to the South African rand’s strength against the US dollar. The Swazi currency, the lilangeni, is linked to the rand because the small country’s economy cannot sustain a national currency. The foreign ministry is looking for new export products to broaden Swaziland’s manufacturing sector, but transport costs in an age of escalating fuel prices remain a challenge.