January's warning of an imminent economic meltdown in the tiny, landlocked kingdom of Swaziland set off alarm bells in its giant neighbor, South Africa. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the country of 1.5 million (the population of Phoenix) ruled by the continent's last absolute monarch, King Mswati III, was in "a fiscal crisis which threatens external stability and the soundness of the financial sector."
The global downturn had caused a 60% drop in 2010 revenues from the Southern African Customs Union — a joint duty arrangement with five countries on which the Swazi state depends for 40% of its budget — the treasury was all but empty; Swaziland was $145 million in debt; and its public-sector wage bill was proportionally one of the highest in Africa. Indeed, there was little economy to speak of: almost 70% of its population earned $1.25 a day or less. And all of that was before considering the debilitating effect on productivity and state finances of the fact that 1 in 4 Swazis has HIV. (See "Swaziland: How Not to be a Royal.")
Mswati, who was educated at the exclusive English private school of Sherborne and has an estimated personal fortune of $100 million, was unmoved. His Finance Minister, Majozi Sithole, raised the royal household budget by $5.8 million for the 2011-12 financial year, taking it to a whopping $30.3 million. Mswati also insisted that the construction of Sikhuphe International Airport, which has so far cost the country $200 million, would go ahead
Copyright, Blaise APLOGAN, 2010,© Bienvenu sur Babilown
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