Central Bank of Eswatini Monthly Statistical Release reveals that credit extended to businesses for July- August has declined by 1.8 percent. The report also notes that the government reduced its advance from the Central Bank.
By Avite Mbabazi
The Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) Monthly Statistical Release for July-August reveals a fall of 10.6 % in Gross Official Reserves from July 2022 to stand at E7.1 billion at the end of August 2022.
The report states that this decline is due to the outflow of foreign currency from trades with local banks and the payment of the government’s fiscal obligations over the month of August. The CBE further reported that the reserves are enough to cover 2.5 months’ worth of imports and represent a fall from the 2.8 months covered in July.
The Release also notes, that credit extended to businesses fell by 1.8% from the previous month to stand at E7.9 billion at the end of July 2022. However, there is still a year-on-year growth of 10.3%. The month-on-month decrease was due to the decrease in credit to the following subsectors; distribution & tourism (-6.3 %), manufacturing (-5.3 %), agriculture & forestry (-3.4 %) as well as mining & quarrying (-3.2 %). An increase was however, observed in the following subsectors; construction (2.9 %), real estate (1.8 %), transport & communication (0.7 %) and community, social & personal services (0.1 %).
Meanwhile, credit extended to the private sector grew by 0.2% month-on-month and 3.4% year-on-year to reach E16.7 billion at the end of July 2022. Similarly, growth was registered in credit to other sectors of the domestic economy, as well as households & non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH).
Net claims on government held by the banking sector went down to E2.0 billion at the end of July 2022 from E2.2 billion in June 2022. It was disclosed by the CBE that this fall was largely attributed to a fall of 15.0% in claims on government as the government reduced its advance from the Central Bank. Similarly, government deposits fell by 17.1 % compared to June 2022.