Of Doers, Bean counters and Visionaries

The Governor of our Central Bank is blunt. His words that he does not mince may have hit a wave of hostility within the intellectual elite and some institutions. He has the habit of steering us into uncharted waters, into an unknown destination. Does he deserve a cheer from the shoreline, or a blast on the foghorn. ? .....

 

Press Version: Budget 2012: Colourable Accounting

     The IMF in its two latest reports on the Mauritian Economy (Public Expenditure and Financial      Accountability (PEFA) Assessment and the 2011 Article IV Consultation—Staff Report) pointed fingers at some of the curious arithmetic in our budget numbers; it noted that the chronic underspending on the capital side was not allowed to flow through to the budget bottom line, resulting in smaller deficits. Government reappropriated the funds and transferred them to a set of special funds.

Budget 2012: Short-term fixes

The IMF in its two latest reports on the Mauritian Economy (Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Assessment and the 2011 Article IV Consultation -Staff Report) pointed fingers at some of the curious arithmetic in our budget numbers.

Titbits: The private sector “fait son cinema »;The Budget: Effets d’annonce;The PBB, again and again;Integration of Budget and Planning

The private sector “fait son cinema »
Mauritius drops three ranks in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) 2012 index and this has suddenly awakened our private sector to the fact that we have been lagging behind on reforms. Now they have something to exhibit for the morosity in domestic and foreign investment. (The assumed positive correlation between the EoDB index and FDI is doubtful; China (91th), India (132th),South Africa(35th) have no dearth of foreign investment.) The private sector lobby is already at work to get rid of the capital gains tax and other taxes introduced by the previous Minster of Finance.

Some Budget Points

For the past five years we have been force-fed with high doses of Programme Based Budgeting , the Ease of Doing Business Index, labour and fiscal reforms to be told now by the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Report that we are still being burdened by an inefficient government bureaucracy and an inefficient labour market.

En partant du deficit budgetaire - a reply

Dear Sir

In your article titled “En partant du déficit budgétaire ” dated 5^th October, you claim that “  une expansion budgétaire induit un déficit commercial et une appréciation du taux de change. On feint de l’ignorer car il est plus facile de blâmer la politique monétaire que de critique le ministère des finances  ». 

However, these do not corroborate with the data.

Need for new think-tanks

            At a round table  meeting  in the last week of August  at the Link, Ebene on « Appropriate monetary and fiscal policies for export-led growth », organised by  Mauritius Export Association (MEXA),  “les bons techniciens” of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED) were arguing that  there were no cause for alarm  and that we could continue with business as usual.

Titbits: The MedPoint Scam; Appreciating Rupee: The Dutch Disease;The Monetary Policy Stance: A Pause; MTPA: Failing to deliverThe Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment report for Mauritius

The MedPoint Scam: Flouting the rules

If the officials of the concerned ministries had abided to the guidelines/rules of the Investment Project Process Manual (IPPM) issued in accordance with the Finance and Audit Act 2008, there would not have been any scandal whatsoever. The IPPM aims at organizing the Investment Project Process by developing a single window system for project approval and establishing best practices for investment expenditure in the Budget.

Titbits:A Long-Term Strategic Plan; Special Funds; Appreciating Real Exchange Rate;Worrying trends.

A Long-Term Strategic Plan

As the economy limps along at the back of the international field, our dismal record in the implementation of capital projects continues. Indeed, we continue to register unsatisfactory progress on the completion of critical infrastructure targets.

Titbits :Changing the rules of the game; Parastatal reform; FDI takes a hit;PBB still struggling in “deliver­ology”; Repo rate increase: A cautionary approach .

Changing the rules of the game

If our friends, the TINAs, (There Is No Alternatives), intent on getting off the hook, in their right to reply, continuously change the rules of the game to prop up their statements, it tends to portray a deliberate attempt at obfuscating the debate because they are short of arguments.

Getting our priorities right

      The TINAs have cleverly deflected some awkward questions with an easy grace by simplifying the issue as one of poor management rather than a lack of funds. It portrays an incorrect perception on the issue which pertains more to the problem of getting their priorities right rather than that of funding or poor management. Indeed decision-making is a team-work with civil servants doing their part and policy-makers theirs. What if our TINAwallahs- the top civil servants- have failed in doing their part- that they have mismanaged the whole process of decision-making ? Let me explain.!

TINA policies- a re-assessment

      We were overwhelmed by the avalanche of carefully picked achievements – an exalted list compiled very technocratically and in minute details. It took us some time to recover from the aggressive reaction of the TINA's (There Is No Alternative) shouting brigade. Since the decapitation of the TINA movement, the tinawallahs have been running helter-skelter like headless chickens. This is reflected in their reaction, typical of cheerleaders rather than that of a sophisticated anchor - their TINA boss.  Their job is to create chaos when things are getting difficult. This distracts attention from what is centre-stage. The idea is that if you make lot of noise the key issues might get lost in the commotion such that we lose sight of the macro-picture.

The Guy must go !

            We saw it coming. And the chickens have finally come home to roost. We were given some  preliminary warnings that the whole structure at Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED) was not just dysfunctional but nonfunctioning but we kept hoping that it will be able to reform itself to see better days.  But the recent piece of breaking news about the falsification of documents by junior officers of the Ministry appears to be the last straw that is revealing the cracks in the system- nothing but the result of a long culture of arrogance , Me-knows-everything  and poor management. 

The Central Bank hawkish on inflation

The corporate world, investors and exporters were expecting either a neutral policy stand or a mild calibrated action from the Central Bank in its efforts to rein in inflation. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank has decided by a majority vote to raise the key repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.25 per cent per annum.

Titbits:International Financial Services; Exceptional circumstances ...; Central Bank‘s independence ; Model-building techniques; Labour-Market Flexibility.

International Financial Services: The Way Forward

 

 We have carved out a comfortable niche in the world of international financial services thanks to our expanding tax treaty networks, a reputable offshore jurisdiction, its strategic location between the Far East and the European time zones, and its membership of major regional trading blocs.

Should the Central Bank raise interest rates?

Business, industry, investors and the street are expecting monetary action from the Central Bank to rein in inflation. It is widely expected to raise the Repo Rate by a minimum of 25 basis points.

Much Ado About Planning

 After the drubbings that the TINAwallahs (There is no alternative) got in Budget 2011, though a censorious dismantling of their main neo-liberal policies that were blindly tried on the populace, we expected them to evaporate in thin air or scatter to the far end of the horizon blown by the winds of change. But even if things change, they tend to remain the same.

Household Budget Surveys: A Deeper Analysis

In these very columns, reference was made by the Director of Communication of the Labour Party to the different Household Budget Surveys (HBS) that are carried out every five years to show that the Labour Party has retained its core progressive ideology.

Assessment of the Monetary Policy Stance

I was surprised to note the facility with which one top economist , interviewed in this very paper, blamed the resurgence of inflation, coming back with a vengeance, to Budget 2011.

Corporate Governance and Communication with Stakeholders

1.    I thank the organisers of this Workshop namely the newly instituted Office of Public Sector Governance for bestowing on me this great opportunity to launch this workshop and share with you some of my own views and experience relating to corporate governance, particularly in the Mauritian context.