The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday gave cash-strapped Swaziland a firm thumbs-down on its fiscal reform programme, effectively dashing King Mswati III’s hopes of accessing international loans.
An IMF delegation closed out a two-week visit to the small southern African kingdom with a harsh appraisal of the government’s progress on getting its finances in order — the IMF’s third negative assessment in a year.
“Expenditure overruns and lack of financing have led to the non-observance of several targets under the staff-monitored programme,” said the head of the IMF’s mission to Swaziland, Joannes Mongardini.
The negative report represents a failure for a six-month IMF monitoring programme that hoped to bring about reform in Africa’s last absolute monarchy and help it cope with a financial melt-down that has seen the government nearly run out of cash.
The most important missed targets relate to the country’s soaring government deficit — which stands at more than 14% of total economic output — and its failure to curb spending on social programmes like health and education.
The IMF also sharply criticised Swaziland’s public wage bill, one of the continent’s highest at 51% of recurrent spending in the government’s annual budget.