Titbits: Export competitiveness;The NSTC- Whose turf?; The Project Management and Delivery Unit ; Improving education outcomes; Reactivating the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation

Export competitiveness

Competitiveness is an imperative, not an option in today’s global economy. For analyzing the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector, we have to examine the changes in Unit Labour Cost (ULC), that is, not only labour productivity growth but also the growth in the average compensation of employees. ULC measures the remuneration of labour per unit of output. 

Titbits:The National Strategic Transformation Commission; The Cost of Lower Public Debt to GDP Ratio; Managing Capital Inflows;Labour Market Reforms; MK rescued again and again!

The National Strategic Transformation Commission

After some six years of bumping into systemic dead ends, the Government Programme 2012-2015 took the bull by the horns by coming to the rescue of the economic management of the country. We have so far been having recourse to stopgap solutions and focussed mostly on short-term traditional macro-stabilization policies. But that is not enough for establishing a solid base for sustained economic growth and get the economy going again at full blast.

Titbits:India-Mauritius Tax Treaty; New Reforms Strategy in the Civil Service; Capital inflows and appreciation of the rupee; A University for the Mediocre

India-Mauritius Tax Treaty

The radical taxation proposals contained in the recent Indian budget have raised considerable alarm about the ability of Mauritius to maintain its pre-eminent role as an offshore location for investments into India. In response, the Mauritian Government has adopted a wait and see attitude, probably on the premise that the Indian Government will backtrack on the proposed tax changes in the presentation of the Finance Bill in the Indian Parliament during the last week of April, under the mounting weight of harsh international criticism of the retroactive nature of the tax amendments and of the sweeping taxation powers accruing under the tax avoidance rules.

Titbits: Offshore Financial Services - Time for a New Strategy?; Whatever happened to the Central Bank’s independence?; Mexa clamours for a Ministry of Planning; Overvaluation of the rupee.

Offshore Financial Services - Time for a New Strategy?(Published in L'Express)

Last week's tax proposals in India's 2012 Budget appear to be a definite game changer for the development of our offshore financial services. While investors from Mauritius will continue to be entitled to the benefits afforded by the provisions of the India-Mauritius Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, especially to avoid taxation on capital gains incurred in India, the practical availability of such benefits will henceforth be subject to a host of bureaucratic impediments that go with the introduction of comprehensive General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) in Indian Income tax legislation as from April 2013.

Titbits:Theatre of the Absurd: The Planning dialogue; Growth-oriented push; Public Enterprise Reform;The Quality of Tertiary Education

Theatre of the Absurd: The Planning dialogue

Trying to catch up on Development Planning after wasting some five years chasing short-term goals, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MOFED) has embarked on an ambitious planning dialogue for a “Ten Year Economic and Social Transformation Plan” on a wrong note. The planning dialogue looks like a theatre of the absurd.

The strong rupee- refocusing the debate

The recent public debate on the strong rupee missed three essential points.

1. Large capital inflows: Firstly, the falling Euro only partly explains our appreciating exchange rate. As from 2007, the large capital inflows have more than offset the widening trade and current account deficits resulting in Balance Of Payments (BOP) surpluses. There has been a continuing build-up in foreign reserves and upward pressure on our Nominal and  Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER).

A case for demerging planning from MOFED

On  the MID project , food security, energy and water issues, industrial development policy and more recently the national debate on the reform of the CPE, the Minister of Finance had very little to contribute. On most of the issues of national importance they are totally absent - on their own web site, in board meetings,in meetings with line ministries, on the sectoral plans , with the IMF and World Bank and other consultants, you name it !!!