The BoP shows increasing dependence on GBCs

(Published in L'express 07 April 2021)

With the advent of Covid, our balance of payments swung from a surplus of Rs 33 bn in 2019 to a deficit of Rs 21 bn in 2020, or a worsening of about Rs 50 bn after successive surpluses since 2006. We have not fared so badly in 2020 .

"The Deputy PM who once thought of doing politics differently !!!

We could not have avoided the possibility of a second wave. C'est le Premier Ministre adjoint qui nous le dit “Le risque de résurgence du virus à Maurice était inévitable”.

The MIC : another uninspired and misguided concoction

At the time of creation of the MIC , we had commented that they are making themselves downright risible by appointing Meghnad Desai as chairman of Mauritius Investment Corporation Ltd-an ex- professor of 80 years old and a board of yes-man who do not seem to be quite conversant with the nitty-gritty of specialised investments and projects.

Damning Audit report : Couldn’t have been worse !!!

Shocking!

Scarcely credible Payadachy- a 25% reduction in recurrent expenditure !

The 2021-2022 Budget Circular has called on all Ministries/Departments to reduce their recurrent expenditure by 25% so as to free up resources for accommodating new policy proposals. Ministries/Departments are expected to ensure judicious use of budgetary resources by leveraging on ICT, reducing wastage, controlling overtime, improving fleet and procurement management, optimising energy consumption, prioritising human resource requirements and exploring other possibilities for efficiency gains.

The Budget Deficit : Caught in their own lies !!!

Despite the measures taken by Government, such as the Wage Assistance Scheme, the Self-Employed Assistance Scheme and other support provided to businesses and individuals to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic on the economy , the recovery plan to propel Mauritius into the era of innovation and new technologies, the ambitious projects like the Côte d’Or Data Technology Park , Pharmaceutical Industry …, our magician ,our Chancellor of the Exchequer, our Mr Payadachy, by one wave of his magic wand , assured us that Budget 2020-2021 will turn out to be a balanced budget.

The BoM at its old trick of depreciating the rupee before the Budget

You recall that some months before the 2019-20 Budget, the BoM started intervening aggressively (even putting pressure on banks to align their rate quotations to BoM pre-determined rates.) in the forex market to depreciate the rupee such that, by June 2019 , the Special Reserve Fund (which derives its funds mainly from the net valuation gains on foreign exchange reserves) had shot up by some Rs 7 billion to reach Rs 20 billion. An amount of Rs 18 billion was then transferred from the Special Reserve Fund to the Budget of which Rs 7 billion was drawn for the early repayment of our external debt.