The Mauritian government adopted for the FY2020-21 a budget of $2.5 billion to revive its economy hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement was made last week by the Finance Minister Renganaden Padayachy (pictured).

The new Finance Act has a triple objective: revive the economy and investments in the country, implement key structural reforms, and improve the framework for inclusive and sustainable development.

As part of this strategy, authorities bet on infrastructure investments. They plan to inject about $1 billion in various public infrastructure projects, which, according to them, will sharply reduce the unemployment rate in the country.

The government also plans to create a centralized digital agricultural bank to make land available to farmers and provide them with a guaranteed price mechanism. Another project called “Buy Mauritian” is aimed at promoting a minimum of 10% of local products on supermarket shelves and the purchase of at least 30% of local products by public institutions.

Several incentive measures have been taken in favor of the tourism sector to enable businesses affected by the crisis to gradually recover.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou