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In an interview yesterday, Sibiya told this publication that such incidents greatly affected the economy of Eswatini, in terms of imports and exports.
The shutdown yesterday, led by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), resulted in some trucks not crossing the border, yet Eswatini conducts about 80 per cent of its trade with the neightbouring republic.
Sibiya stated that statistics indicated that on a daily basis, the country made about E51 million in terms of imports and exports, hence if there would be no movements of goods in and out of the country, that amount would be lost. The economist said on average, the country imported E18.6 billion and exported E18.6 billion per annum, hence the E51 million daily. He stated that today, the companies involved in the exportation and importation of goods would have to wake up with strategies on how to make deliveries, without having any effects on their turn-round time.
Shutdown
Sibiya said if the shutdown in South Africa continued, the impact would be greatly felt as inflation would also rise. He said inflation would increase because people would be competing for the only commodities available in the country. He said it was unfortunate that there was nothing much that could be done to avert the situation, as Eswatini relied mostly on South Africa. He highlighted that since Eswatini was a landlocked country, everything had to go via South Africa or Mozambique.
Sibaya said, therefore, if those countries had issues like the shutdown, Eswatini would be greatly affected.
The economist said Eswatini would need to learn to diversify its economy and improve its local production capacity. He said the country would need to practise import substitution, whereby the country produced most of the commodities that were currently imported from other countries. It was also gathered that besides trucks Oshoekbor der w‘asoperational. not being able to move, public transport on the other side of the border was operational. Otherwise, the Ngwenya/