The monetary mix up

The US dollar/Rupee rate nearly broke the psychological level of Rs 25 in the early weeks of this month rising from a peak rate of Rs 33 per dollar in the last quarter of 2006.  Against the Euro, it strengthened nominally by around 7% over the same period whereas vis à vis the pound, the hike in the rate was around 25%.

The welfare state: Status quo or reform ?

  After more than three decades of remarkable progress with sustained economic growth and significant improvement in the standard of living, Mauritius found itself, at crossroads, in the midst of a challenging environment - a new era where the protected environment in which it has been evolving so far is fast withering away. The daunting challenges were:  the phasing out of external trade preferences for its textile and sugar, the entry into the world economy of vast new sources of hard-working and highly motivated cheap labour from economic powerhouses such as China and India;

Appreciation of the rupee: a divisive issue

 Angel Merkel, the German Chancellor rejected French calls for a summit of the eurozone leaders to exchange views about monetary policy , feeling that it to be potentially divisive. Eurozone monetary policy and the resulting strengthening of the Euro is a bone of contention between Paris and Berlin.

Indian diaspora-PIO Meeting

The Indo-Mauritian relationship is a special one. Both culture and history have coalesced to forge singular bonds, assiduously knitted over millenniums, to unfold a unique blend of camaraderie, entente and trust.  These have been consolidated by regular exchanges between our two people and frequent visits of high dignitaries.

A regional investment strategy

Further to the article on the Mozambique-Mauritius-Madagascar Growth Triangle that explores the trade potential of an effective regional strategy consistent  with our economic  strategy, this article tries to point out  to the need to give substance to our goal of gradually moving the economy’s centre of gravity towards services and positioning the country as a leading provider of business and financial services for the region.

NESC: Institution of conflict management?

In the context of the recent Annual Summit of the National Economic and Social Council, it is fitting to review its role and functions as the country faces the end of the growth cycle based on trade preferences and develops a new socio-economic model driven by openness and global competitiveness. -A new socio-economic model, that is arduously progressively, and at times painfully built,  around  a crucial set of macroeconomic and sectoral reforms and with the participation and support of all social and economic partners to break free of the strangling embrace of economic dependency .

A leftist turn ?

Now that the dust is allowed to settle after days of intensive heckling and the media barrage that has been focussed on the demand for land and for new energy deals from the  MSPA, we will have clearer idea where the government stands on reforms that the country badly needs.  Is the recent aggressiveness of one of the two camps - the “gradualists-leftists” as opposed to the “ neo-liberals”- just a populist showcase or is it that the political pendulum has started to swing to the left -a genuine effort towards a leftist turn in the  reform programme.?