MANZINI – His Majesty King Mswati III has encouraged businesses especially those trading abroad to continue paying customs religiously in order to increase the SACU receipts.
The King was speaking during the 17th edition of the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards (EYA) held on Friday at Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre. The head of State mentioned that it was worth noting that during the country’s tenure as Chairperson of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), member States managed to receive higher SACU receipts than ever before. It is worth noting that SACU receipts for Eswatini increased from E5.8 billion to E11.75 billion in the 2022/23 financial year. Eswatini held the SACU chairmanship from July 2022 until July 2023. The country recently handed over the reigns to the Kingdom of Lesotho after a successful SACU Summit held at Mandvulo Grand Hall on June 29.
The King also highlighted the government, in pursuit of the ease of doing business, has reviewed the trading licence order by removing the advertisement as a requirement to issuing of a trading licence. He also mentioned that the government was working on a numerous pieces of legislation that seeks to improve the business community. He highlighted that these legislations included the Citizens Economic Empowerment Bill which seeks to empower emaSwati to take advantage of the available business opportunities. Another bill is the Standards and Quality Bill and the Cooperatives Bill among others.
