Africa-Press – Eswatini. During the financial year 2022/23, the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) made a profit of E385.8 million, which was a huge increase when compared to profits realised in the previous year.
According to the CBE Governor Dr Phil Mnisi, this was an improvement of 111.7 per cent from the E182.3 million profits recorded in 2021/22. Dr Mnisi was making his remarks when the bank was presenting its annual integrated report for the financial year 2022/23, yesterday at the Happy Valley hotel. The governor mentioned that a total of E445.46 million was paid by the CBE as dividend to the Government of Eswatini, in line with the CBS Order of 1974. He said these payments were made after calculating a total comprehensive income of E1.01 billion realised by the CBE in 2022/23. He noted that this income took into account the E627.4 million revaluated gains realised by the bank on the same year.
Expenses
The profits were reached after charging staff costs, repairs and maintenance, board members and audit fees, depreciation and all other operating expenses. He mentioned that the profits were also added by the gains received from the interests accumulated by the country’s reserves, as the increase in interest rates in the past was of good to those reserves. In an interview with the media after the presentation, the governor said that the dividends paid to government contributed to the payment of suppliers that were owed by the government. Mnisi said as the CBE, they were advising that suppliers should be paid in order for them to continue growing and further contributing to the economy of the country at large.
Mnisi described the 2022/23 financial year as a productive one for the bank, despite the global and local economic shocks experienced on the same year. The governor noted that the income was attributable to the depreciation of Lilangeni against major trading currencies, which caused a profit on the revaluation of foreign denominated assets. He said the bank has, however, reiterated that its operations were not profit driven but served the best interests of all sectors and people of Eswatini.
Contraction
He added that economic growth was projected to improve to 4.7 per cent in 2023. He said the strong performance would be driven by the secondary sector, which was expected to grow by 1.2 per cent in 2023, compared to a contraction of 0.6 per cent in the previous year. Mnisi said construction activity was also expected to recover in 2023, supported by an improvement in the government cash flow position. He said in the medium-term (2024 to 2026), growth was envisaged to average 3.3 per cent with a peak of 4.9 per cent in 2024. He said continuous implementation of multi-billion projects (such as the Mkhondvo-Ngwavuma Water Augmented Programme) as well as the commencement of projects earmarked to support the energy sector would be the main drivers of growth in the medium-term.
The governor said they were encouraging that this project be eventually implemented in order to boost the economy. He further said economic activity, as measured by the quarterly gross domestic product, grew by a slower 1.1 per cent year-on-year (seasonally adjusted) in the first quarter of 2023, down from a revised growth of 6.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The slight growth observed in the first quarter of 2023 was attributed to positive performance in the primary and tertiary sectors. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, economic activity grew by 2.5 per cent (seasonally adjusted), from a revised contraction of 0.3 per cent in the previous quarter.
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