№ 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.
Section · 10 editions
The economy
Rates, the peg, growth, trade, debt and the weather: the forces that reach every household from outside it.
№ 18 · 11 Oct 2026
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.
Read the edition →№ 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.
№ 12 · 30 Aug 2026
The cost of a dry summer
An El Niño advisory is a warning about prices, not just rain. Where a dry summer reaches your money first.
№ 10 · Part II · 16 Aug 2026
Does Eswatini have a debt problem?
The concluding instalment — the interest bill, the repayment calendar and how much room to breathe is left.
№ 10 · Part I · 9 Aug 2026
Does Eswatini have a debt problem?
At around 40 per cent of GDP the number looks safe. The number is not the risk.
№ 09 · 2 Aug 2026
Two point six months
The kingdom is carrying 2.6 months of import cover. Most of us are running a smaller version of the same balance sheet.
№ 07 · 19 Jul 2026
Margin for error shrinking
Financial crises rarely announce themselves. The Central Bank’s latest numbers are whispering — borrowing up, savings down, the cushion thinning.
№ 01 · 7 Jun 2026
Let’s talk about money
Why the Central Bank’s rate decision matters far beyond economists — and what it means for the cost of living.