Republic of Mauritius- Mauritius holds some Rs 1 000 billion in foreign currency, indicates Finance Minister

The figures were givenby the Minister of Finance,
Economic Planning, and Development, Dr Renganaden Padayachy, today, in the
National Assembly, in reply to the Private Notice Question on the negative
impacts on external capital flows and the decline in tourism and export
earnings.

According to him, the increase in the official
reserves is the result of an anticipation strategy aimed at building the
economic resilience of the country to guard against exogenous shocks. With
regard to the official reserves of Rs 1 000 billion, he stressed that they have
never peaked to this level before. 

The Finance Minister believes that in the context of
this unprecedented crisis, this increase in official reserves will enable the
country to deal with the economic shock of Covid-19 with more serenity. He also
indicated that at the end of March 2020, the local commercial banks held
foreign currency assets of some Rs 780 billion. As for net foreign currency
assets of commercial banks, for that same period, they stood at Rs 400 billion,
or 10 billion USD, he stated. 

Tourism receipts, for the first quarter of 2020, was
estimated atRs 14.1 billion, compared to Rs 16.5 billion for the same period
last year, DrPadayachy recalled. Furthermore, as far as the export of goods,for
the first quarter,is concerned, the estimates wereRs 12.1 billion. 

Speaking about the Mauritius Stock Exchange, he stated
that Covid-19 has spared no financial centres around the world, but since the
beginning of the year 2020 and until 14 May 2020, the Mauritius Stock Exchange
has nevertheless recorded foreign portfolio investments of about Rs 713
million. With regard to Foreign Direct Investment, in a particularly
difficult context, inflows are estimated at over Rs 3 billion for the first
quarter of 2020, he added. 

Commenting the inclusion of Mauritius in the list of
High Risk Third Countries issued by the European Commission, the Finance
Minister reiterated Government’s view that the list is not yet
final and needs to be submitted to the European Parliament and the European
Union (EU) Council of Ministers for approval,

As for the balance of payments estimates, he indicated
that according to preliminary forecasts by the Bank of Mauritius, the current
account deficit will be between 11% and 15% of GDP. From this perspective, it
implies that a coverage equivalent to 11 months of imports of goods and
services will be preserved. “It is therefore a more than comfortable coverage
that we will manage to maintain, which is well above international standards”,
he added.

Dr Padayachy stressed that in the current context, the COVID-19 (Miscellaneous Provisions) Billwill introduce the possibility for the Board of
Directors of the Bank of Mauritius to invest, at its discretion and in full
independence, in the Mauritian economy. The Bank of Mauritius has submitted a
request for the extension of these powers in order to invest in the local
economy certain funds invested abroad, he added. Through this request, the central
bank intends to carry out its primary mission more effectively by reconciling
price stability and the sustainability of economic development. 

#ResOuLakaz     #BeSafeMoris

Government Information Service, Prime
Minister’s Office, Level 6, New Government Centre, Port Louis, Mauritius.
Email: gis@govmu.org  Website: http://gis.govmu.org  Mobile App: Search Gov​

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