The Secretary general of the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) comments the Business Confidence Indicator published by his organization and other socioeconomic issues.

¦ Mr. Cheeroo, you made a statement to the press about the economic situation in Mauritius and it all seems like doom and gloom. What exactly do you want?

Let me correct you fi rst. It’s not about the economic situation. It is about the release of the latest issue of the Business Confi dence Indicator of the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI). This is normally what businessmen think about the situation. It’s a scientific tool that we use and this is the seventh issue. It shows what businessmen in different sectors of the economy, commerce, industry and services think about the situation. The index is a reflection of that.

¦ The figures in front of me do not call for any alarm. Apart from inflation which rose from 1.7% in July 2010 to today’s 5.8%. There seems to be nothing to worry about.

That depends on how you see things. The good thing about economics is that it also talks about the future. It’s only next year, 2012, that we will see the beginning of what is to come. Most probably the weakest link will be employment. What people tend to forget is that every year we have 10,000 new jobseekers.

¦ That’s normal: there is a gap between the time graduates and other new job seekers come into the job market and the time they are absorbed by the market. What’s alarming about that?

If there are no jobs in the next three to six months, these jobseekers will join the unemployed.

¦ Are we talking just about external factors?

Yes, because that’s where we export our products and services

¦ Then why do we continue to export only to Europe and the U.S? Why are we sitting and crying and doing nothing about it?

That’s a good question. Let me tell you one thing. This does not only apply to us but to any country that’s used to a particular business model for a number of years. They tend to innovate at the margin. However, we have been able to tap South Africa as a new market for textile products. Between 1995 and 2000, we negotiated the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Trade Protocol and it took four or fi ve years just to see the first significant effects of this preferential market access.

¦ Isn’t all this alarmism a way of lobbying for a weaker rupee?

There have been a lot of misconceptions about this issue of exchange rate. If you see from a historical perspective, Mauritius has had a policy of slight depreciation of the rupee for 30 years to try to support the export industries. It has been of benefit.

Interview by Touria Prayag

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Touria Prayag