Those who believe in magic and miracles may have been disappointed by Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo’s budget. It was not revolutionary. Thankfully, no budget ever is, otherwise the continuity of government would be greatly compromised. Even in the deepest of the worst global economic crisis, our economy kept growing – albeit slowly, at a time when other countries were registering negative growth.

In this context, Luchmeenaraidoo’s evolutionary and rather steady budget did not upset the applecart. It is a mixed bag of a few new measures, repackaged old items and bland cosmetic ones. Like every budget. It is in line with normal expectations for an economy which has shown remarkable resilience and only needs fixing at the edges.

What is clear to most sensible people today is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. The so-called “no-tax budget” does not mean we are not paying for every measure taken. The Ministry of Finance will collect Rs1.4 billion in ‘levy’ since the decrease in the price of oil was not passed on to the consumers. You will recall that in the rest of the world, the price consumers are paying for their petrol has been halved since the drastic drop in the price of oil worldwide. Not here, where the middle classes continue to foot the very high bill.

The other tax we have been paying is even more insidious. It is the accelerated depreciation of our currency, compliments of the Bank of Mauritius. Between December 10^th to today, our currency has been allowed to slide by virtually 16% in relation to the US Dollar. Sixteen! So, every time you go to the supermarket, you will be paying 16% more for imported goods than you used to three months ago. Fifteen per cent out of that is going to the government coffers in the form of VAT. So, no, your lunch is not free. What our Vishnu giveth, our King Roi taketh away!

If it is clear that we are the ones paying for the no-tax budget, aka ‘free’ lunch, what is not clear yet is how the budget presented will generate the number of jobs being tossed around and absorb our unemployed graduates as well as attract the Mauritian diaspora back into the country. Forget about the high-sounding words which peppered the budget speech like transparency, meritocracy and good governance which, if the minister of finance believes in them – which we dare hope he does – his colleagues in cabinet must have been laughing up their sleeve every time he uttered them. The lack of meritocracy displayed by cabinet members recently and the glaring nepotism which characterised too many nominations and appointments so far give little hope to our youth and will make it hard for our diaspora to come back. But even assuming that by some magic, nepotism were replaced by meritocracy, the prospects for job creation are not clear. The minister did announce some ‘mega’ projects. However, most of these ‘smart cities’ are private-sector projects many of which have already started – what with Terra and Omnicane – with some nearing completion like  Azuri phase 2! Even then, how many jobs are projects like these likely to create? How many jobs did Azuri phase 1 create?

At the end of the day, the lunch served by the minister was not free at all and the dinner he has promised may be too meagre to make the rabbit pop out of the hat. Still, let’s keep our fingers crossed for him.