{"id":64981,"date":"2025-02-16T17:47:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T17:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/revenue-shortfall-and-govts-response"},"modified":"2025-03-12T18:20:58","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T18:20:58","slug":"revenue-shortfall-and-govts-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/revenue-shortfall-and-govts-response","title":{"rendered":"REVENUE SHORTFALL AND GOVT\u2019S RESPONSE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Eswatini. <\/strong><\/span><b>Eswatini\u2019s 2025\/26 budget comes amid declining Southern African Customs Union (SACU) receipts, forcing the government to focus on alternative revenue sources.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg highlighted that while SACU contributions have fallen from <b>E13.07 billion to E10.40 billion<\/b>, the government has strategically withdrawn <b>E1 billion from the SACU Stabilization Fund<\/b> to support this year\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur reliance on SACU receipts must decrease. We are implementing strategies to boost domestic revenue collection while ensuring that the tax burden remains fair,\u201d Rijkenberg emphasized.<\/p>\n<p>Revenue collection is projected to improve significantly through enhanced <b>tax administration<\/b> by the Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS). The government expects an increase in tax collection efficiency, particularly in personal and corporate income taxes.<\/p>\n<p><b>Key Tax Revenue Projections:<\/b><br \/>\n<b>Corporate Tax Revenue<\/b>: E9.05 billion (23.6% increase)<\/p>\n<p><b>Personal Income Tax<\/b>: E5.80 billion (10.3% increase)<\/p>\n<p><b>Value Added Tax (VAT)<\/b>: E5.85 billion (15% increase)<\/p>\n<p><b>Fuel Tax<\/b>: E1.43 billion (4.5% increase)<\/p>\n<p>Non-SACU revenue sources, which include <b>Value Added Tax (VAT), excise duties, and fuel levies<\/b>, have been identified as crucial contributors to bridging the budget deficit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur tax revenue improvements are not due to increased rates but rather better compliance and administration,\u201d Rijkenberg assured.<\/p>\n<p>Despite these revenue gains, the government faces the challenge of ensuring fiscal sustainability. The <b>fiscal deficit of E2.88 billion<\/b> must be carefully managed to avoid excessive borrowing. The government remains optimistic that a combination of <b>improved tax collection and strategic financial management<\/b> will maintain fiscal stability while supporting the country\u2019s economic transformation goals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Eswatini<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Eswatini. Eswatini\u2019s 2025\/26 budget comes amid declining Southern African Customs Union (SACU) receipts, forcing the government to focus on alternative revenue sources. Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg highlighted that while SACU contributions have fallen from E13.07 billion to E10.40 billion, the government has strategically withdrawn E1 billion from the SACU Stabilization Fund to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":64980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[249],"class_list":["post-64981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-eswatini"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>REVENUE SHORTFALL AND GOVT\u2019S RESPONSE - Eswatini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Eswatini\u2019s 2025\/26 budget comes amid declining Southern African Customs Union (SACU) receipts, forcing the government ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/revenue-shortfall-and-govts-response\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"REVENUE SHORTFALL AND GOVT\u2019S RESPONSE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eswatini\u2019s 2025\/26 budget comes amid declining Southern African Customs Union (SACU) receipts, forcing the government ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/revenue-shortfall-and-govts-response\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eswatini\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-16T17:47:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-12T18:20:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2025\/02\/sm_1739719328.338167.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/revenue-shortfall-and-govts-response#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/revenue-shortfall-and-govts-response\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"REVENUE SHORTFALL AND GOVT\u2019S RESPONSE\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-16T17:47:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-12T18:20:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/revenue-shortfall-and-govts-response\"},\"wordCount\":259,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/revenue-shortfall-and-govts-response#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2025\/02\/sm_1739719328.338167.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Eswatini\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/revenue-shortfall-and-govts-response#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/revenue-shortfall-and-govts-response\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/revenue-shortfall-and-govts-response\",\"name\":\"REVENUE SHORTFALL AND GOVT\u2019S RESPONSE - 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