MBABANE: Finance Principal Secretary(PS) Sizakele Dlamini, the Chairperson of the Southern African Customs Union(SACU) Commission, has urged Member States to advance industrialization, trade facilitation and leveraging on the African Continental Free Trade Area(AfCFTA), amongst others, as the core pillars identified to advance the region’s economic growth, Government online platforms have reported.
Speaking during the official opening of the 72nd Meeting of the SACU Commission, the Principal Secretary said it was important for SACU to leverage on the likely positive economic outlook for the coming year.
“It has been noted from the IMF that the economic forecast shows that the global economic outlook for 2023 remains pessimistic. For instance, the global growth is projected to fall to from 3.4 in 2022 to 2.8 percent in 2023.Growth in SACU is projected to mirror the global prospects with the region expected to register average weighted growth of 1.8 percent in the current year (2023) compared to 2.3 percent in 2022,” said the SACU Chairperson of Commission.
SACU Chairperson of Commission PS Sizakele Dlamini urges Member States to advance industrialization.