By Musa Mdluli

MBABANE:The United Nations Development Program(UNDP) says, access to finance remains a significant challenge for businesses within the Small and Medium Enterprise(SME) sector.

UNDP Eswatini Resident Representative Henrik Franklin launched the 2023 Blended Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Survey for Eswatini on Thursday at the Hilton Garden in Mbabane.

The event was attended by Neal Rijikernberg, the Minister of Finance, officials from the Centre for Financial Inclusion(CFI) including Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Sizakele Dlamini and other stakeholders.

The survey’s findings show that, 84% of MSMEs have formal financial products in 2023 compared to 76% in 2017. Although the survey noted an increase in MSMEs using non-bank formal services such as Mobile Money, from 66% in 2017 to 75% in 2023, small businesses accessing formal banking services and products declined from 69% to 52% over the same period.

The survey further revealed that, the number of MSMEs with some operating licence from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade or municipalities increased from 25% in 2017 to 43% in 2023.

But in addition, the number of micro-entrepreneurs rose from 78% to 96% over the same period. However, at least two-thirds of Eswatini’s MSME businesses are still unregistered with the Registrar of Companies.

Other officials who present during the launch include the CEO of FinMark Trust, Brandan Pearce, and Rado Razafrindako, who was representing the Southern African Development Community(SADC) Secretariat