The Sugar sector: Absence of a long term view

(Published in MTimes 22 March 2019)

 At a workshop recently on the agricultural sector at the Labourdonais hotel , the representative of the Ministry of Finance in his presentation showed that the sugar sector has been declining since 2010. The sugar sector, previously of fundamental importance to the Mauritian economy, has become very "inefficient" very much depending on the  financial support from government for its survival.

Caught in the middle income trap: “Une honte”

(Published in MTimes 22 March 2019)

At a business forum that the Economic Development Board had organized to improve economic cooperation between Mauritius and Madagascar at The Westin Turtle Bay Resort in Balaclava on Wednesday 13th March, Foreign Minister Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo expressed his "shame" at our dismal growth performance.

Manipulating Public Debt Data

(Published in MTimes 22 March 2019)

 Whenever an economic aggregate ((national income, budget deficit, government expenditure, debt. ..) is chosen as a target of public policy, it’s almost invariable that policy-makers will try to manipulate its presentation and computation to their advantage. Take budget deficits, which can be deliberately underestimated by displacing expenditures from the budget to state-owned special purpose entities (SPEs). Borrowed funds can be directed to SPEs for spending, and Government can make equity investments in the SPEs without adding to the fiscal deficit. In cases where SPEs are used as an artifice for circumventing the budget, the budget deficit will provide a misleading measure of the fiscal gap.

Export Oriented Entreprises (EOEs): The Minimum Wage dealt the final blow

(Published in MTimes 15 03 2019)

 When Air Mauritius plunges, a whole set of experts and the very people who are the cause of this debacle tender advice for a new “business model” for MK but when the textile industry is in doldrums it is a question of mismanagement. So the State has to inquire into what and how things went wrong. 

The updated EU list: Mauritius stuck in greylist

(Published in MTimes 15 March 2019)

The European Union (EU) announced a revised blacklist of 15 tax havens (uncooperative jurisdictions) on 12 March 2019. The blacklist originally issued in December 2017 numbered 17 countries, which was reduced to only 5 by end 2018. Among 10 new additions, the UAE (Dubai and others) is back on the blacklist, which should be reassuring to those who spent considerable efforts there to finance the Heritage City Project. Equally comforting to  those who instructed a state-owned

bank to lend millions of dollars to an absconding borrower in Dubai.  

Ganga Talao also needs its “politique de rupture”

(Published in MTimes 08 03 2019)

Several hundred thousand pilgrims from different parts of the country congregated to Ganga Talao for Maha Shivaratri to offer worship to Lord Shiva. On this occasion matter and consciousness unite. The subtle world and the gross world come together and that is the celebration. 

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