CAPE TOWN, South Africa/ISTANBUL, Turkiye: Lesotho has declared a two-year state of disaster due to high unemployment following United States (US) President Donald Trump’s decision in April to impose a 50 per cent tariff on imports from the African nation.
According to Anadolu Ajansi (AA), Deputy Prime Minister Nthomeng Majara made the announcement due to the unemployment rate reaching 30 per cent and mass job losses.
Majara said the state of disaster, which envisages taking all necessary measures to minimise the effects of unemployment, will be valid until June 30, 2027.
According to official data, youth unemployment in Lesotho, which has a population of approximately 2.3 million, has reached nearly 50 per cent.
In his March statement on the disclosure of foreign aid funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Trump described Lesotho, which received USD8 million (RM34 million) in aid, as “a country nobody has ever heard of”.
However, the 50 per cent rate for Lesotho, which was part of what Trump described as “reciprocal tariffs” imposed in April on imports from dozens of countries, made it the country where the US imposed the highest tariff.
Although the imposition of the tariff was later halted, it had devastating effects on the economy of Lesotho, whose second largest export partner is the US, through job losses.
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), an economic data platform, Lesotho exported USD228 million (RM969 million) worth of goods to the US in 2023, while its imports from the country remained below USD8 million (RM34 million).
For Lesotho, which conducts more than 80 per cent of its foreign trade with its only neighbour, South Africa, exports to the US account for more than 10 per cent of the country’s GDP.
Lesotho’s textile sector, which constitutes the basis of exports from the country to the US, employs approximately 40,000 people. – BERNAMA-ANADOLU
