This week · № 18

Tiny, but mighty

Thirty-five years ago Eswatini was one of the fastest-growing economies on earth. Income per person has only doubled since. Five small countries show what it takes to keep growing once a boom has passed.

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In this edition

Income per person has only doubled since 1990; Mauritius tripled, Vietnam grew sixfold
Growth forecast 5.3% this year, easing to about 2.6% a year after 2027
Private investment below 10% of GDP in the two decades before the pandemic, from about 15%
At today’s pace income per person takes about 35 years to double; at Mauritius’s, closer to 20

At the pace of the past 35 years, a liSwati child born today will be 36 before the average income has doubled. A Mauritian child will be 21, a Vietnamese child 13.Chart · Plain Money / World Bank

The economy

All in The economy →

№ 17 · 4 Oct 2026

Price of the peg

The Central Bank raised interest rates in the same breath as it lowered its inflation forecasts. The reason sits across the border, and it reaches every loan and deposit in the kingdom.

№ 16 · 27 Sep 2026

The economy is growing. Can you feel it?

The ministry expects the economy to grow 5.3% this year. This is how that money travels from a building site to a till, and how to tell whether any of it is coming your way.

№ 15 · 20 Sep 2026

Where does our money go?

In August the kingdom sold E3.86 billion of goods abroad and bought E3.67 billion. Follow that money across the border and back, and you will find some of it in your own pocket.