Investing In Eswatini

The Kingdom of Eswatini is committed to improve the country’s competitiveness and attracting foreign direct investment. The country has mineral deposits that provide great opportunities in various sectors. Eswatini is a peaceful country therefore ideal for fresh FDI.

In 2012 His Majesty the King re-launched the Investor Roadmap (IRM) together with the country’s new brand Swaziland (Eswatini): Africa’s New Promise. Government has committed that the IRM will continue, but at a substantially faster rate of implementation, to be the guiding route to the comprehensive reform of our business environment.

The roadmap is available on the government website.

The roadmap details procedural, administrative and regulatory barriers that hinder investment in the country and recommends regulatory reforms. The Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority (EIPA) advocates for foreign investors and facilitates regulatory approval.

Recent positive developments include allowing for company registration online and amending the immigration laws to make it easier for foreign workers to remain in the country.
 
The government has prioritized the energy sector, including particularly the renewable energy sector, and has developed a Grid Code and Independent Power Producer (IPP) Policy to create a transparent regulatory regime in this industry and attract investment. Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) is also an emerging sector. Eswatini has embarked on a number of initiatives to spur the growth of this key sector such as e-governance and the construction of the Royal Science and Technology Park. The digital migration program of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) presents ICT opportunities in the country.

Incentives to invest in Eswatini include repatriation of profits, fully-serviced industrial sites, provision of purpose-built factory shells at competitive rates, and exemption from duty on raw materials for manufacture of goods to be exported outside the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). Financial incentives for all investors also include tax allowances and deductions for new enterprises, including a 10-year exemption from withholding tax on dividends and a low corporate tax rate of 10 percent for approved investment projects. New investors also enjoy duty-free import of machinery and equipment.

This Government recognises that a dynamic business environment requires an appropriate structure of incentives and other forms of support, to both large and small scale enterprises, to meet the needs of changing times. A study has recently been undertaken that has examined all the possible incentivisation options to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) of the requisite type and standard, as well as encourage rapid growth at small, medium and micro-scale enterprise (SMME) level. One particular incentive – the provision of further factory shells to provide the rapid accommodation of investors – is already captured in an existing programme that will continue, and will include the transfer of the existing stock and the construction of new factory shells under the re-launched National Industrial Development Corporation of Swaziland (NIDCS). Other methods of capacitating investors will be examined in a way that encourages new and existing investors to adopt a long-stay attitude to operating in the Kingdom. The approach to incentivisation will be resourceful and not restricted to fiscal measures. The ultimate package will make Eswatiini stand out as the