Supporting Eswatini’s drive towards inclusive and resilient economic growth

This week, I am looking forward to embarking on my first visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini, a landlocked nation of 1.2 million people, nestled between South Africa and Mozambique. Eswatini has prioritized transforming its economy into one that is more inclusive, sustainable, and private sector driven.

Through this visit, I hope to see the impact of the support the World Bank has provided to Eswatini to enhance the human capital and economic prospects of emaSwati. Part of this engagement will include a dialogue centered on strategic advice to foster inclusive growth. The Bank is a trusted advisor and partner to Eswatini, and it is in this context that we support the government to address key development challenges.

I am keen to engage with a diverse range of stakeholders and a cross-section of Eswatini’s society, including King Mswati III, Ministers, business leaders, and beneficiaries of our projects in health and access to energy, amongst others.

Despite some progress, Eswatini continues to experience high and persistent poverty, driven by structural issues such as inadequate job growth and access to services. Reliance on subsistence farming by a large sector of the population creates challenges due to reliance on rain-fed agriculture and vulnerability to climate events like drought. Eswatini’s poverty reflects a scarcity of formal jobs outside the public sector, a weak business climate, limited economic opportunities in lagging areas, and insufficient growth-enabling infrastructure. Unemployment in Eswatini is high and rising, having increased from 23% in 2016 to 33.3% in 2021, the highest rate in over a decade. Young people, between 15 and 24 years of age, faced an unemployment rate of 59.1% in 2021.

Better policies are needed to improve the outlook. At the government’s request, we are supporting the development of a growth strategy to contribute to Eswatini’s objective of boosting inclusive growth and becoming a high-income country. During this visit I’ll have an opportunity to meet with government and business leaders to discuss the recent findings of our Eswatini Country Economic Memorandum and study: In Search of the Drivers of Inclusive Growth.

The core message of the study is that Eswatini requires a comprehensive growth strategy to meet its development aspirations, through policies that increase investment, enhance human capital, and productivity. It calls for support of business development, investment, technology use, skills improvement, better access to finance, market expansion, and public sector reform, with a focus on digital services, eco-tourism, and agribusiness. These findings are consistent with support the World Bank has provided, in crucial intervention areas, to bolster Eswatini’s development.

Reliable energy is amongst the essential building blocks of productive economies. Eastern and Southern Africa accounts for more than half of the world’s unelectrified population (675 million). The pace of electrification in the region must triple to achieve universal electricity access by 2030. Amongst those without access are some of the poorest people in Eswatini’s least developed regions, Lubombo and Shiselweni. As reflected in the Country Partnership Framework, the Bank and government have prioritized the development of these areas. I’m looking forward to visiting Shiselweni to see the impact of the Network Reinforcement and Access Project (NRAP), implemented by the Eswatini Electricity Company. Over 4,000 people have been connected to the grid, contributing to the total of 132,016 utility customers countrywide. The project includes installation of innovative “ready boards” which provide metering and power outlets in homes, without the need to install household wiring.

A healthy population is crucial for human capital development. Eswatini was amongst the first countries to sign onto the World Bank’s Human Capital Project. In the Shiselweni region, I will visit a mobile cancer screening and treatment truck, part of the Eswatini Health System Strengthening Project. Eswatini has one of the highest rates of cervical cancer in the world, and ensuring women's wellbeing and survival is fundamental to driving economic growth. The achievements of the cancer prevention team, with limited resources, are remarkable. With an initial allocation of just $20,000 for speculums, the team decentralized screening and reached over 33,000 women. Additional resources, including a newly procured mobile health truck, have allowed them to extend their work from just prevention, to screening and care. Since January 2022, over 89,850 women have been reached.

I look forward to gaining a deeper appreciation of the development challenges and opportunities in Eswatini and to working with our teams and emaSwati to build on the successes of our partnership?to achieve development impact at scale.