Subsection 32 (5) of the Bank of Mauritius Act 2004 stipulates that the Bank shall, as soon as may be practicable, after the last working day of each month, prepare and publish a return of its assets and liabilities as at the close of business on that day. Subsection 32 (7) of the Act further mentions that “the Bank shall cause to be published in the Gazette, a copy of the return referred to in subsection (5).
BoM is thus flouting its own legislation by not disclosing its Statement of Financial position on a monthly basis.
It is usually by this time that the Financial Statement of BoM is published . it is now three months that the BoM has not published its updated balance sheet !
The latest Statement of Financial Position of the Bank of Mauritius was published in its Monthly Statistical Bulletin of March 2022.
BoM has not even published its Monthly Statistical Bulletin of May 2022 which has been expected since Monday. There's nothing on the Website up to now.
We are still waiting-at least we would have expected a communiqué or an explanation from the authorities !
One ex-Governor of the Bank had remarked :
“I just cannot imagine any other reason for delaying publication of such vital data than the distinct possibility that the accounts show some impairment or other.”
And some time back, Vinaye Ancharaz had commented that “he regrets that under the present regime, the lack of transparency of several institutions, including the Bank of Mauritius, …...It is up to the public to judge whether the Bank of Mauritius is hiding something. However, if there is nothing to conceal, the balance sheet would have been published on time. This raises several questions. I would not be surprised to see that there are things that the Bank of Mauritius does not want to unpack.”
Indeed !
Is it because of the impact of the appreciation of the rupee and the market downturn between end March 2022 and end April 2022 which has led to a loss in comprehensive income of 7.5 bn, meaning that the reserves are nil and capital reduced to 5.5 bn.?
The tandem Padayachy / Seegoolam is turning out to be toxic for the country !
It is high time to fire all the members of the BoM board of directors!
Meanwhile, the currency continues to depreciate….
