The Minimum Wage and Its Impact

(Published in MTimes 15 02 2019)

The National Minimum Wage was set at Rs 8,000 a month, effective from year ending 31st December 2017 and 8,500 as from year ending December 2018. From the preliminary observations of the National Minimum Wage Council, one can easily see that a more detailed analysis is needed to isolate the impact of the minimum wage on the economy from the customary or annual trend.

Political Caricatures:CTSP promises to issue voting directives;Diversifying the financial services sector;The ultra-liberals: Same old story for the economy;Election time: Freebies for our workers;

CTSP promises to issue voting directives

The Confédération des travailleurs du secteur privé (CTSP) – Confederation of Private Sector Workers – is tuning itself for the forthcoming elections. It held a peaceful march in the streets of Rose Hill on Saturday 2nd Feb. Reaz Chuttoo and Jane Ragoo announced that the union would be issuing directives to private sector workers about which political bloc to support at the next elections.

Educational reform : More investment in pre-primary

In my latest article titled “Free Tertiary Education for All: A Blunder” published in this column  on 25th January 2019, where I took the stand that a fee-paying tertiary education is not necessarily against the interests of the poor,

The Competition Commission Amnesty Programme: What next?

(Published in MTimes 08 02 

The Competition Commission of Mauritius (CCM) has released its first batch of decisions for the Resale Price Maintenance (RPM) amnesty programme. 

For Lokal to be beautiful: Tinkering at the edges won’t do!

(Published in MTimes  31 Jan 2019)

Do we need a whole set of foreign consultants of the Utopies agency to tell us what we already know about our economy? That we need more of local value added, that we have to boost our exports, more of open economy, etc? 

Free Tertiary Education for All : A Blunder

(Published in MTimes, 25 January 2019)

I was astonished by the overall positive response on the free tertiary education measure announced with pomp and audacity by the regime without prior consultations and planning. Even opposition politicians were quick to say that they approve the principle that tertiary education should be paid for everyone but disapprove the government’s approach towards its implementation.

Living beyond our means

(Published in MTimes ,18 January 2019)

Nobody owes a living, and most of the goodies that have been served by this regime -tertiary education, negative income tax, minimum wage, generous wage and PRB awards, increase in basic pension, etc., have an impact on the budget and the economy. They have a cost. Can we afford them? Are we not jeopardising our future by such fiscal largesse - if not irresponsibility?