Swaziland's government has sold maize donated by the Japanese government to feed hungry Swazis for $3m (£2m) and deposited the money in the Central Bank of Swaziland.
The nearly 12,000 tonnes of donated maize was sold by the ministry of economic planning and development in 2011, but the sale was not made public until an item about the transaction appeared in a performance report the ministry presented to the Swaziland parliament for review last week.
Swaziland has not produced enough food to feed itself since the 1970s. It depends on international food aid to bridge a gap that varies from year to year, ranging from two-thirds of the country's 1.2 million people in 2007 to about one-tenth of the population this year, after a better than average rainfall, according to the World Food Programme.
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"The government is desperate for money and will grab it by hook or by crook, even taking food from the mouths of babies," said one private-sector accountant familiar with the government's financial situation. "At the same time, the government is used to the international community rushing in with aid to cover the government's mismanagement of the economy and the humanitarian crisis here." Full story...
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The nearly 12,000 tonnes of donated maize was sold by the ministry of economic planning and development in 2011, but the sale was not made public until an item about the transaction appeared in a performance report the ministry presented to the Swaziland parliament for review last week.
Swaziland has not produced enough food to feed itself since the 1970s. It depends on international food aid to bridge a gap that varies from year to year, ranging from two-thirds of the country's 1.2 million people in 2007 to about one-tenth of the population this year, after a better than average rainfall, according to the World Food Programme.
(...)
"The government is desperate for money and will grab it by hook or by crook, even taking food from the mouths of babies," said one private-sector accountant familiar with the government's financial situation. "At the same time, the government is used to the international community rushing in with aid to cover the government's mismanagement of the economy and the humanitarian crisis here." Full story...
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