Africa-Press – Eswatini. The business community has called for Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg to practice prudent spending measures to ensure that there is no need to raise taxes. This is according to a statement on aggregated opinions and reactions of the private sector to the Speech from the Throne by Business Eswatini (BE).
The private sector, through BE CEO E.Nathi Dlamini expressed its hopes for the budget speech, which will be delivered tomorrow. The organisation said the country had been dogged by poor spending for many years, which is why there was a budget deficit which now appeared to be perennial. The business community said the country had always fallen short in terms of cutting its coat to fit our cloth.
“Reckless spending, or spending on projects whose social and commercial value cannot be readily verifiable, should be something that we avoid. It is on this aspect that we hereby call on the minister of finance to stand his ground when necessary and refuse to be railroaded into allocating funding for projects whose justification is vanity, of which there are many,” he said.
The organisation said tax payers were already taxed to the bone and are too tax-weary to carry another burden of tax. Dlamini said it also hoped that the fiscal consolidation would carry on in 2022 and ensure that government finally paid off in full her outstanding debts with the private sector.
“While advocating for fiscal discipline, we are not unmindful of the national need to start to meaningfully address matters of social protection which will, justifiably, need government spending,” Dlamini said. He said efforts aimed towards improving the ease of doing business and facilitating trade, such as the agreement with South Africa to operate 24 hours at Ngwenya-Oshoek border, were of utmost importance for a vibrant business activity.
“The private sector is hopeful that, unlike before, this arrangement will this time allow for clearance of goods to occur at any time. We would like to also urge government to pursue the same for the Lavumisa border as it is an important port of entry that connects to the Durban side for businesses,” the CEO said.
He added that as investment remained a top priority for the country, and what with the high competition for FDI internationally, relaxing the ease of entry and strengthening retention of investment projects should be key going forward.
“Equally, the manner in which we treat our foreign investors should be commensurate with the dire need to create jobs urgently. There has to be a sincere review of the manner in which the process of issuing work permits is designed,” said Dlamini.
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