We are in brown stuff up to the neck. The sooner we come to terms with that, the better for everybody. There is no need holding the government solely responsible for this. There have admittedly been exogenous causal factors but the government has to take its full share of blame because they have been arrogating credit for just about everything that they think has been even remotely positive.

First the facts: Our national debt is expected “to peak at just over 80% of GDP in 2021”. Yes, you understood that we are past the talk of keeping it below 50%. That legal debt ceiling was surreptitiously removed before we even knew what hit us. We are now talking about 80%! I am not the one predicting doom and gloom but rating agency Moody’s evaluation and prediction of our economic situation and prospects. Our country has already been downgraded to Baa2 with a negative outlook, which is one mere precarious notch away from junk status, an opprobrium we were far from imagining would ever beset us. Still, we roll out the red carpet for anyone willing to lend us more money, aggravating our already alarming overindebtedness.

As I write, the US dollar is trading at Rs40.70! Again, this news is not from me. Look up the exchange rate on any bank website and think of the last time you checked and you will take the full measure of the unrelenting and precipitous slide our national currency is taking. Now, there is worse news: try buying even a handful of dollars and you will get to know that you need a very special reason to be entitled to convert your own money into foreign currency. In the meantime, the central bank is blissfully and blithely rolling out more banknotes from its overworking printing presses.

The Mauritius Investment Corporation is spending billions of our hard-earned forex reserves in a totally opaque way. A lot of that money will never find its way back to the vaults of the central bank, as it is being invested in companies which were already overstretched and carrying heavy debt burdens even before Covid.

Over 2,000 people have lost their jobs since the beginning of the year and worse is yet to come.

We are in a crisis situation. It is only the government and the central bank which do not seem to see that the house is on fire. Those at the helm have to get out of cuckoo land and smell the coffee. From their ivory tower of full scrumptious salaries and fringe benefits, they see green shoots of an economic recovery which is a mirage to the rest of us. In fact, it was surreal to hear Minister of Finance Padayachy thumping his chest in the aftermath of our disastrous downgrade and claiming that Moody’s had awarded us a badge of honour as an investment destination! Frankly!

Instead of telling us the truth and leading from the front by taking substantial salary cuts to encourage a sense of sacrifice, the only thing the government is interested in is face-saving while enjoying the full benefits of their position. By trying to make us believe that all is well and by continuing to behave as if it really is, we will surely sink deeper and deeper into the abyss we are being sucked into.

All this has an air of déjà vu. I smell a lot of trouble ahead.