- Our rather-confused & uninspired CEO is now talking about profits whereas the ex-Chairman , our Marxist old boy ,was arguing that the MIC's mandate was to channel funds for building future capacity and that their primary focus was the Mauritius economy of care and love not profits. Which is which ?
- Our CEO refers to its portfolio of Rs 80 billion as a sovereign fund ! Is it ? Is the Rs 80 billion being funded from foreign-exchange reserves held by the central bank. ?
We are not aware of any amount of official external reserves that have been netted for any BoM investments in MIC !!! Or is it that the MIC is truly just a Govt vehicle for using BoM to extend finance to the economy from BoM money-money printing !!!
And when do sovereign funds invest only locally ?
- We are being told that the investment objective of MIC is to assist systemically large, important and viable corporations or companies incorporated in Mauritius which are financially distressed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic . How do the investment in Omnicane fits in the assistance to systemically large, important and viable corporations or companies or a support to the economic development of Mauritius ?
We thought that the “new normal” in terms of investment as recommended by the World Bank in its report “Mauritius: Through the eye of a perfect storm” would be a re-channelling of our investment away from the unproductive investment in real estate to sectors which are more likely to generate new export opportunities- sectors such as high-skilled services and manufacturing .
-Our ex-Chairman also mentioned that the MIC would be earning higher returns on its investments than BoM is actually earning on its foreign exchange reserves. It does not look likely with losses of Rs 538 million recorded for the period ending 30 June 2021 taking into account the changes in fair value of assets .
-Our CEO concludes on this comforting note in a vain attempt at reassuring us that "le MIC s'inspire des modèles en vigeur à l'étranger". Which ones? The ones that are being criticised for having repeated recourse to the one-off Central Bank 's contributions which is inexorably leading the country towards a possible Moody’s downgrade to junk status in the coming months !!!
