<\/p>\n
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said debt increased from 40% of gross domestic product in 2024\/25 to 44.8% in 2025\/26. The fiscal deficit widened sharply from 1.1% to 7.8% over the same period.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lower Southern African Customs Union revenue, increased capital expenditure, a substantial public-service wage adjustment and higher non-wage spending contributed to the deterioration.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Interest payments reached 3% of gross domestic product, exceeding social-benefit spending of 2% and amounting to more than half of capital expenditure.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Fund said implementing the government\u2019s medium-term consolidation plan was critical to placing debt on a sustained downward path. Debt is projected to decline to 48.2% by 2031\/32 before moving towards a recommended long-term anchor of 40%.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Economic growth strengthened from 3% in 2024 to 4.9% in 2025, supported by large public and private investments in energy, water, roads, manufacturing and other infrastructure.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Growth is forecast to moderate to 3.7% in 2026 and average about 3.3% over the medium term, remaining above the 20-year average of 2.9%.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Inflation averaged 3.1% in 2025 and stood at 2.5% in July 2026. However, fuel prices had increased by a cumulative 39% by September, while drought-related food pressures could drive inflation higher.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The IMF warned that incomplete fiscal reforms, prolonged Middle East conflict, tighter financing conditions, foot-and-mouth disease and El Ni\u00f1o-related climate shocks could weaken the outlook.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Despite stronger growth, unemployment remained at 33.5% in 2025, while youth unemployment stood at 52.2%.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The IMF called for civil-service and public-enterprise reforms, tighter expenditure controls, improved tax administration and more efficient public investment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Digitalisation, responsible artificial intelligence adoption and electronic government services could improve transparency, reduce regulatory costs and support private-sector growth.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, only 58% of the population used the internet despite fourth-generation mobile networks reaching 95%, partly because of high data costs and limited digital skills.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Fund said eSwatini must continue investing to create employment and raise living standards while rebuilding fiscal and foreign-exchange buffers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–IMF\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":41640,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-47389","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"eSwatini\u2019s public debt is projected to rise to 54.4% of gross domestic product by 2027\/28 as higher wages, investment spending and borrowing costs strain public finances.","published_date":"","news_description":"eSwatini\u2019s public debt is projected to rise to 54.4% of gross domestic product by 2027\/28 as higher wages, investment spending and borrowing costs strain public finances.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47390,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47389\/revisions\/47390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=47389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}