Maurice
Financial centers : less rated Mauritius
Every year, the performance of global financial centers is the subject of a ranking established by London stock market circles, the Global Financial Center Indices. A year ago, Mauritius appeared in 63rd place. In the new ranking, published mid-March, the country loses 26 places and falls to 89th position. Observers see this as a direct consequence of the placement of Mauritius under surveillance by the Financial Action Task Force. (FATF), international organization to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, which brings together around forty countries. Likewise, the Mauritian market has been included on the blacklist of the European Union and is struggling to get off it. The closure of the country due to the health crisis may also have contributed to this discount, even if many global financial centers are also affected.
Moody’s lowers the rating of Mauritian banks
The financial rating agency Moody’s lowered the rating of the three main Mauritian banks at the beginning of March, Mauritius Commercial Bank, Absa Bank et SBM Bank. This decision is essentially justified by the catastrophic consequences of the health crisis on tourism and its related activities.. Moody's is also pessimistic about the recovery of tourism, estimating that the health crisis would change consumer habits and reduce demand for distant destinations.
The cost of aging worries
The aging of the population becomes a subject of concern in Mauritius, due to its macroeconomic cost. In 2020, old age pensions paid by the State represented 6,5% of the country's GDP, compared to 2% in 2003. Selon Statistics Mauritius, the island will have 320,000 people aged over 60 in 2038 and the cost of pensions will still represent more than 5% of GDP, even if the latter experiences annual growth of 3%. The Mauritian State currently pays a monthly “universal pension” of 9,000 rupees to retirees aged 60 and over., or a little more than 200 euros. Voices are beginning to be heard to “lighten this burden”, for example by only paying the pension from the age of 65.
Tourism still at a standstill
The second epidemic wave affecting Mauritius could only amplify the trend : very few tourists accept the draconian quarantine conditions imposed to stay in the country. During the first two months of 2021, Only 2,389 arrivals were recorded at Plaisance airport (-99 %). The nature of stays has profoundly changed, their average duration reaching three months (compared to less than 11 days a year ago, before the start of the health crisis). Just over 1,000 people arrived from Europe, from France for half. Among the 983 from Asia, the high proportion of Indonesians and Filipinos suggests that the shipowners have carried out crew changes of sailors in Mauritius. Finally, 41 Reunion Islanders went to the sister island in January and February.
Mayotte
Sharp increase in mortality in 2020
The year 2020 was marked by a drop in the number of births and an increase in the number of deaths and this trend was more pronounced in Mayotte than at the national level., revealed INSEE at the end of March. Over the year, 9,200 children were born to mothers living in Mayotte, i.e. 570 fewer babies than in 2019. The drop in births is significant (-6%) and focused on the second half. The number of births recorded in 2020 is the lowest since 2015, but remains at a significantly higher level than in the 2000s and early 2010s (7,100 on average between 2007 and 2012).
At the same time, 970 people living in Mayotte have died, i.e. 190 more than in 2019 (+25 %) and 210 more than in 2018. The increase observed in Mayotte is significantly higher than in France (+ 9,3 %). Consequently, the natural balance, difference between births and deaths, amounts to +8,200 in 2020, lowest level since 2014. In the absence of available data on the cause of death, the role of the Covid-19 pandemic cannot be measured, especially since Mayotte is also experiencing a dengue epidemic. INSEE emphasizes, however, that at the same time as a second wave of Covid-19, Mayotte has experienced even higher excess mortality since the start of 2021 : 322 between January 1 and March 14, 2021, +78% compared to the corresponding period of 2020.
Madagascar
Vanilla : good production, falling market
Madagascar recorded a good 2020-2021 vanilla campaign, with an estimated production of between 1,800 and 2,000 tonnes of black vanilla. The green vanilla harvest was good, but the prices paid to farmers have decreased. Early March, only a thousand tonnes of black vanilla had found a buyer on the international market. A drop in demand is recorded on the European market.
Graphite : resource revised upwards
Australian mining company Bass Metals, which has been exploiting graphite veins in the Brickaville region since 2018 (Eastern Madagascar), announced in mid-March that the resource was four times larger than the initial estimate. The potential of this mine, called Graphmada, was initially rated at 5,7 million tonnes. Additional explorations carried out in recent months, while extraction activities were suspended due to the health crisis, bring this estimate to 20,2 million tonnes. Graphite is a mineral in high demand on the international market : it is in fact used in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage.
Production of anti-famine kits in the South
A food supplement production unit is being set up in Fort-Dauphin, in the south of Madagascar. The process was designed by the French company Nutriset, specialist in the fight against malnutrition. The Mérieux Foundation has financed this project with 850,000 euros, which should benefit 50,000 children in school canteens in the great South of Madagascar.. The Nutriset unit has an annual production capacity of 600 tonnes of food supplements. The famine, recurring in this arid part of the Big Island, has been particularly severe in recent months
The mining sector is underperforming
The health crisis has caused several mining sites to be mothballed, like the Ambatovy cobalt and nickel mine, in the Tamatave region. Through the voice of its president, Jean-Luc Marquetoux, the Chamber of Mines of Madagascar recently asked the Malagasy State to further support the sector, which could contribute to economic recovery after the end of the health crisis. Foreign direct investment in mining projects has declined sharply in ten years, just like the share of mining products in the country's exports. The Chamber of Mines believes that the development of the sector will significantly create jobs. In 2014, the World Bank estimated that the mining industry could represent 14% of Malagasy GDP by 2025. Today it represents less than 5%.. Several projects have sparked local protests in recent times, particularly in the Tuléar region.
Solar power plant project at a Colas quarry
The Malagasy group Axian and the French solarist and energy company Green Yellow, partners since 2017 in Green Energy Solutions, will build a hybrid solar power plant on the site of a Colas group quarry, near Tamatave. The innovative project will have a power of 148 kWp and will meet all the needs of the Colas quarry, including at night thanks to a storage system.
Seychelles
The challenge of reopening
The reopening of Seychelles to tourism, effective since March 25, is “a calculated and necessary risk” according to Sylvain Radegonde, Minister of Tourism. The country, which has lost 90% of its attendance since the start of the health crisis, refuses the “economic suicide” that a lasting closure of its borders would represent. Most of its major source markets, European, however, impose significant travel restrictions on their nationals. The French must in particular prove a “compelling reason” to go to the Seychelles. The country therefore focuses its promotion on Israel, India, Russia, some Eastern European countries and the United Arab Emirates. Air Seychelles resumed flights to Tel Aviv on March 23. The company also operates to Dubai every week and resumes its flights to Mumbai from April 7 (Inde)..
Air Seychelles towards renationalization
Heavily in debt (to the tune of 127 million euros in mid-February), Air Seychelles seeks to separate from Etihad Airways, which holds 40% of its capital and which is a major creditor. Seychellois President Wavel Ramkalawan announced in February the suspension of payments to the Emirati company and the continuation of negotiations on the terms of repayment of the debt with the latter. The Seychellois presidency confirms its wish to “reestablish the national carrier as an entity entirely owned by the Seychellois”. In serious difficulty, Air Seychelles launched a voluntary departure plan for its employees at the end of February.
