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| | | | | Doing Business Report 2018: World Bank ranks Mauritius 25th worldwide, 1st in Africa
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| | | Mauritius has been ranked 25th out of 190 countries by the World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2018. From the last edition of the report, Mauritius’ score increased from 75.45 to 77.54, a progress of 2.09 points, which indicates improvements in the country’s doing business environment. Mauritius’ ranking saw a significant leap of 24 places with respect to last year’s, while the country reconfirms its leading position in the Sub-Saharan Africa region.
Mauritius improved its scores in 8 of the 10 indicators used by the report, namely Starting a Business, Dealing with Construction Permits, Getting Electricity, Registering Property, Paying taxes, Trading Across Borders, Enforcing contracts and Resolving Insolvency. Mauritius is among the league of top 10 countries in the Dealing with Construction Permits and Paying taxes indicator.
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| Global Competitiveness Report 2017/2018: Mauritius in leading position in Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mauritius tops the list as most competitive country in the Sub-Saharan Africa region for the fourth consecutive year, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2017/2018, published by the World Economic Forum on 27th September 2017. Mauritius ranks 45th out of 137 countries worldwide, maintaining the same place as last year while slightly improving its overall score.
The Global Competitiveness Report assesses the competitive landscape of participating countries, and provides an insight into the drivers of their long-term growth and prosperity. The assessment is made on 12 pillars of the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), namely institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health & primary education, higher education & training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological preparedness, market size, business sophistication and innovation. Each pillar is based on three spheres namely basic requirements, efficiency enhancers and innovation factors of competitiveness.
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| | | Mauritius residency schemes – the new ‘Innovator OP’ and other amendments
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Mauritius is open to foreign investment and already offers attractive residency permit schemes, with the aim to bring foreign direct investment and expertise to the country. The Government of Mauritius has recently updated and brought changes to the Mauritius residency schemes, aiming to further increase the attractiveness of these schemes, and to encourage investment in innovative projects, in line with the government’s objective to transition to an innovation-driven economy. These updates and changes are summarized below.
1) The Innovator Occupation Permit
The Government of Mauritius has introduced a new category of Occupation Permit, the Innovator Occupation Permit (Innovator OP), thus enlarging the eligibility criteria for an Occupation Permit (OP).
The Innovator OP aims to attract businesses and start-ups that offer innovative products or services. Thus, the application for an Innovator OP may be made by foreign nationals intending to invest in Mauritius through projects comprising Research and Development in innovative sectors
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| | First Edition of the Mauritius Cinema Week successfully held
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| | | The first edition of the Mauritius Cinema Week successfully took place from 5th to 8th October 2017.
The theme for this first edition was ‘East meets West’, a reference to the cultural melting pot represented by the rainbow island nation. Indeed, for the event, film directors, celebrities and artists and other high-profile guests flocked from India, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and South Africa to celebrate their common passion in Mauritius.
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| FINANCIAL SECTOR & ECONOMY |
| | The Stock Exchange of Mauritius (SEM) wins the “Most Innovative African Stock Exchange for 2017" Award
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| | | The Stock Exchange of Mauritius (SEM) won the "Most Innovative African Stock Exchange of the year Award" at the Ai Institutional Investment Summit and Capital Markets Index Series Awards 2017 organised by the Africa investor (Ai), a leading international research and communication group. Winning this award for the fourth time in seven years, the SEM reconfirms its position as a leader in this category. The event took place at the NASDAQ Exchange in New York on 18th September 2017.
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| Mauritius and Micronesia establish diplomatic ties
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| | | The Republic of Mauritius and the Federated States of Micronesia formally established diplomatic relations on 10th October 2017, through the signature of a Joint Communiqué.
As Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the two countries have a common destiny and face common challenges such as the severe impact of climate change.
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| Benchmarking visit by African Francophone delegation to Mauritius
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| | | Mauritius is further strengthening its ties with Francophone African countries and positioning itself as a platform for doing business with Africa.
A delegation of Francophone African countries comprising representatives from the International Network of Francophone Investment Promotion Agencies (RIAFPI), the Ivorian Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (FI-PME) and the Guinée Business Forum paid a benchmarking visit to Mauritius from 19th to 22nd September 2017.
Created in 2014 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, RIAFPI (Réseau des agences francophones de promotion des investissements) regroups 18 investment promotion agencies from African Francophone countries. FM-PME was created in 1995 consists of over 30 associations, professional organisations and federations of SMEs with more than 4,818 members.
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| State Visit of the Seychelles President to Mauritius |
| | | The President of Seychelles, H.E. Danny Antoine Rollen Faure headed a high level delegation of 23 members on an official visit to Mauritius from 26th to 28th October 2017.
It is to be noted that the Presidential visit was preceded by the meeting of the 12th session of the Seychelles-Mauritius Commission on Bilateral Cooperation held on 23rd October 2017, during which a new roadmap of cooperation has been elaborated for next two years, and that the two sides also took the opportunity of this visit to sign the agreed minutes of that meeting. Mauritius and Seychelles leveraged on the Presidential visit to firmly consolidate their bilateral relations further and the two sides signed five Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), namely:
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| IOPS Annual General Meeting – FSC Mauritius elected to the Executive Committee
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The International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS)’s Annual General Meeting was held in Mauritius on Tuesday 24th October 2017. During the meeting, The Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Mauritius was elected to the Executive Committee of the organization. Other elected members include Italy, India, Romania, Uganda, Egypt and Botswana.
IOPS also organised its “Global Forum 2017” at Belle Mare, Mauritius from 24th -25th October 2017. Over 150 delegates from some 40 countries were represented at the forum, which was themed ‘Care for the Future: Think of Pensions”. Participants International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS) included eminent personalities from the OECD, G20 and the World Bank including Mr Carlos Ramirez Fuentes, the new President of the IOPS, Dr Holger Fabig, Head of Division G7/G8, G20 world economy, monetary and currency issues and representative of the G20 presidency at the Federal Ministry of Finance Germany, Dr Pablo Antolin, Principal Economist and Head of Private Pensions Unit at the OECD, Mr Brendan Kennedy, Chair of the IOPS Technical Committee and Dr Gordon Clark, Professor at Oxford University.
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| | | | Air Mauritius welcomes new A-350 900 to its fleet
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| | Air Mauritius welcomed the latest member of its fleet, an A-350 900 Airbus, a jewel of new technology and the first aircraft of this kind in the Indian Ocean. The aircraft has been named ‘Le Morne Brabrant’ after the island nation’s iconic and historic UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.
‘Le Morne Brabant’ landed at the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport on 20th October 2017 at 15h17, amidst the national police band fanfare and enthusiastic applause from a crowd of high level guests.
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| | DISCLAIMER The information in this e-newsletter was prepared by Intercontinental Trust Limited to provide potential clients with a broad overview of the opportunities available in Mauritius. While all reasonable care has been taken in the preparation of this e-newsletter, Intercontinental Trust Limited accepts no responsibility for any errors it may contain, whether caused by negligence or otherwise, or for any loss, however caused, sustained by any person that relies on it. Readers are advised to consult with appropriate, qualified professional advisors before taking action. Intercontinental Trust Limited will be pleased to discuss any specific issues.
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