Eswatini’s information and communication industry recorded real growth of 20.5% in 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing industries in the economy, according to the Annual Gross Domestic Product Bulletin 2025 released by the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development.
The performance is significant because it came from a relatively small economic base. The bulletin shows that the real value of output in information and communication increased from E2.223 billion in 2024 to E2.678 billion in 2025. Despite the increase, the industry accounted for only 1.2% of GDP during the year, meaning that its rapid growth has not yet translated into a proportionately large contribution to overall economic output.
The gap between growth rate and economic size makes ICT an important sector to watch from an investment perspective. A sector can record a high growth rate while still having a relatively limited impact on total GDP when its starting base is small. For investors, however, sustained expansion from a small base can create opportunities if the underlying demand continues to grow and businesses are able to scale.
Information and communication also outperformed the wider services economy by a considerable margin. The tertiary sector, which includes a broad range of service industries, expanded by 6.0% in real terms in 2025 and accounted for 52.3% of GDP. The ICT industry therefore grew at more than three times the pace of the broader tertiary sector.
The performance becomes even more notable when compared with some of the country’s larger industries. Manufacturing remained the biggest contributor to GDP at 28.8%, but its real growth was 1.2% in 2025. Wholesale and retail trade accounted for 15.5% of GDP and grew by 6.1%, while financial and insurance activities represented 6.3% of GDP.
The figures suggest that ICT is expanding faster than several sectors that currently carry a much larger share of the economy. That does not mean the industry is already a major driver of GDP, but it does point to a sector where changes in output are occurring at a relatively rapid pace.
For the financial sector, the investment question is whether this growth can be accompanied by increased capital formation and the development of businesses with the scale to contribute more substantially to the economy. Growth in information and communication can create demand for telecommunications infrastructure, digital services, software, data-related services and other technology-based activities, although the GDP bulletin itself does not break down the sector’s growth into these individual investment opportunities.
The wider structure of the services economy provides a potentially supportive environment for this expansion. Financial and insurance activities contributed 6.3% of GDP, professional, scientific and technical activities accounted for 3.6%, while real estate contributed 5.1%. These sectors form part of a sizeable services economy in which information and communication can support business processes and economic activity.
Other service industries also recorded strong growth during the year. Professional, scientific and technical activities expanded by 11.7% in real terms, while other services recorded growth of 30.8%. Financial services excluding insurance increased by 5.6%, demonstrating that growth within the services economy was not limited to ICT.
The investment case for ICT therefore needs to be considered within this broader shift towards services. As businesses across financial services, professional services, retail and other industries expand their use of digital systems, the demand for information and communication services can increase alongside wider economic activity. However, the national accounts do not establish that this process is already taking place at any particular scale, so the investment potential should be viewed as an area for further assessment rather than an established outcome of the 2025 data.
There is also a distinction between sector growth and investment growth. The 20.5% expansion confirms that the industry produced more in real terms in 2025, but the GDP bulletin does not attribute that growth specifically to increased investment in digital infrastructure or technology businesses. It would therefore be premature to conclude from the growth figure alone that a major ICT investment cycle is already underway.
What the figures establish is that information and communication is growing from a relatively small base at a pace significantly above the overall economy. With real GDP expanding by 4.8% in 2025, the ICT sector’s 20.5% growth places it among the industries, expanding considerably faster than the national average.
For investors and financial institutions, the question is whether this growth can be converted into a larger economic footprint. That would require continued expansion in the sector and the development of businesses capable of moving beyond small-scale operations into sustainable commercial enterprises. It would also require sufficient demand for digital products and services to support continued revenue growth and investment.
The relatively small 1.2% contribution to GDP should not be dismissed simply because it limits the sector’s current weight in the economy. It instead provides an important context for interpreting the 20.5% growth rate. Information and communication has considerable room to become more economically significant if its expansion is sustained over time.
Eswatini’s 2025 national accounts therefore identify ICT as a sector whose growth warrants closer attention from the business and financial community. The industry is not yet large enough to rival manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade or other major contributors to GDP, but its growth rate was substantially higher than that of many established sectors.
The investment opportunity, if it materialises, will ultimately depend on whether the sector can sustain its expansion and translate increased output into larger businesses, greater productive capacity and a rising contribution to GDP. For now, the strongest conclusion supported by the data is more measured. ICT is growing rapidly, but from a small base, leaving substantial room for the sector to become a more important part of Eswatini’s economy.
E18.2% INVESTMENT DROP TESTS QUALITY OF ESWATINI’S 4.8% GROWTH
