Africa-Press – Eswatini. The National Maize Corporation is currently faced with an overdraft of E33 million from Eswatini- Bank.
This was shared by the corporation’s Chief Executive Officer, Mavela Vilane, during a media briefing held at Mountain View Hotel.
Vilane said NMC started incurring losses during the financial year 2019/20 due to a decline in revenue as a result of changes in the Gazette price of maize from E3 487 to E3 000 leading to a E23.8 million decline while cost of sales increased by 4.6 per cent.
“During the same year, government took longer to release input subsidy and tractor hire funds, leading to NMC increasing its overdraft limit with Eswatini- Bank from E15m to E35m to ensure farmers planted on time,” Vilane stated.
He said NMC had not been able to reduce this overdraft, but efforts have now been made and it currently sits at E33 million.
According to the chief executive officer, the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the situation where pressure from government and stakeholders forced NMC to issue import permits to millers.
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this led to a huge decline in sales, as the permits were also issued at no cost to the millers.
“Suspicions of unscrupulous acts due to poor controls have not yet been ruled out (stock theft, double payments, false recordings, fuel theft etc.) and need to be verified and proven,” Vilane stated.
He said NMC does not have enough resources to continue making money to stay afloat for the foreseeable future unless some drastic measures are taken urgently.
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