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Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Seychelles and Fitch at Odds!


Recently Fitch Ratings Agency, international financial rating house, Hong Kong, issued an updated rating on the Republic of Seychelles. Officially, Fitch downgraded the Seychelles from a " BB " rating to a " BB- ( stable) rating. " BB" DOES NOT mean " very above average" as the Minister of Finance of Seychelles would like us to believe. Pierre Laporte tried to pull this old trick on us after Seychelles achieved a " BB- " in 2007 just after we had defaulted on the the Lehman Brothers bond installment payments.

BB- BUT Stable

Fitch rightly acknowledges Seychelles has made significant progress since 2007. It is this reason that Fitch does not twitch and gives the Government of a Seychelles the marginal benefit of the doubt that it will return to the financial reform tracks after elections. Fitch notes, the largess in the political election season and the financially costly program to increase pensions to over SCR. 5000.00 per month and reduce income tax of those under SCR. 10,000.00 per month, the notorious poverty line. While all these pork barrel policy adjustments were advocated by the opposition, and taken up by the ruling party, Fitch warns the Seychelles and it's partners, that these two moves will cost Seychelles 3% of GDP, hence wiping out any progress by way of GDP.

Seychelles Debt Balloons to $ 900 Million

Fitch sheds light on what Principal Secretary Patrick Payet has remained silent on: our debt.
According to FITCH ( sue them not me) our total public debt, excluding IMF and guarantees exceed $ 900 Million. This is more then when our tiny nation declared bankruptcy in 2007 $(865 Million). Some thing is not going right!

The raison d'ĂȘtre of this financial malaise rests with Fitch comments itself. Fitch says, the total debt includes Treasury Bills and Bonds- hence the rapid build up of Reserves now holding at 4 months, but it is borrowed money, not national profits. A mouth full. Indeed, a message that should call every Seychellois off the football fields of political rallies into a room, with around table to pull this country out of the mess she is sinking into today.

Deficit Floats Annually 17%- 23%

Fitch sites that our budget deficit, traditionally covered by FDI has been moderated by reduction in oil prices. Government fixes a Ad Valorem Tax to fuel of SCR. 8.00 per litre. If a litre cost SCR. 25.00 - tax is SCR. 8.00 per litre. If a litre is SCR. 15.00- tax is SCR. 8.00 fixed. Hence, government has benefit like a fox on the reduction of fuel cost worldwide.

Gross External Debt 110% of GDP

Gross external debt remains high at 110% of GDP. This percentage is high according to Fitch for a " BB" rated country, hence the (-) indication. This serves as a warning. To government to put its fiscal house in order. What does that mean? It means reduce the tax cuts, reduce the pensions after elections, forget about 13 month salary, because.......while it is on the wish list.....Fitch has warned you.......it is not FEASIBLE ............if you know what that means.

High Income Country VS. High Poverty

The World Bank classified Seychelles as a " High Income Country" last July. However, in December, 2015, the Geni Index list 39% of our population remains below the poverty level.
Poverty reduction is not accomplished on the football field yelling and screaming or on Facebook calling each other names, with fake profiles. Poverty reduction is a societal challenge. It involves numerous programs, targeting issues that cause poverty; it involves a change of mind set; it involves dealing with the drug issue; it involves dealing with laziness among our people, dealing with their failures in the face of unprecedented opportunity. It means we all need to be more honest about our internal problems, between us for us.

This is no time to play political football with our national failures, when Fitch is the referee, it does not know Parti Le Pep, SPM, SNP, LDS or Martin Aglae. Fitch knows only: " Seychelles".

My message to all politicians- " Wise Up Folks....Wise Up!"

Sesel Pou Seselwa!

May God Bless All Freedom Loving Seychellois!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

World bank .FITCH and others use ATALS method of measure to determined if a country is a high income country or not ..and often inforamtions are provided by banks ..thus not reflecting or missing many important isssues in the system of measurement-NOTE according to world bank ,,a countrys considered a high income country when its GNI per cpaita is over 12 000 doallrs ...is it the case in Seychelles ? the answer is no.....So Fitch report does not reflects ,nor take into considerations many important things like poverty but dvelopemnt ...which is not alleviating poverty for our economy is controlled by< mostly ofreigners whose bank account are aborad and thus contributing peanuts to our economy .......Yes banks generate some transaction or transfers feees from thoese foreigners controlling our economy like VIJAY but this does not reflect the socio-economic situation of the citizens .......the system of measurement is absolete .......
FOr Seychellois fitch report means nothing to them .......

Anonymous said...

I means ATLAS method

Anonymous said...

note --high income means country ith lots of money in some capacity..it has nothing to do with income distribute to population -------Seychelles owes an astronomic debt ot wordl donors ..if it was so rich ..by now it would had pay all its debt and stop borrowing like a drunk man..I fact .the world bank and others use such measurement to see how mow much more a country can borrow ..so it is good for WB ,IMF ---it means indebt us more and more to death ....so that they can control and confiscate our economy ---apparently pl is going for another large borrowing campaign and need organizations like FITCH to make us beleieve we rich and thus can borrow without limits ......

When wb or fitch tell us Seychelles is a high income country ..it is aritificially paving the way to indebt us more and more ..........ito give pl a reason to borrow and breate pharaoic debt burden of the Seychellois population ....

Anonymous said...

hey guys you a high income country ---sotake more loan for foreing donors and make ur economy unsustainable ......Imf and wb would like it while you grab yourselves in acute poverty and economic collapse --give us a break FITCH...

Anonymous said...

You should not tease FITCH or call them names since when they do come to Seychelles are all licking their balls like gay dogs in heat.
FITCH underlines the mean income is $ 15,000.00 Per Capita/ GDP. The fact that vijay has 75% of that money is not Fitch problem. It is PL problem. They created Vijay and let him loose on the system and the country.
What Fitch exposes is the fault lines of bad economic and bad fiscal policy.
Who prepares this?

Anonymous said...

You should not tease FITCH or call them names since when they do come to Seychelles are all licking their balls like gay dogs in heat.
FITCH underlines the mean income is $ 15,000.00 Per Capita/ GDP. The fact that vijay has 75% of that money is not Fitch problem. It is PL problem. They created Vijay and let him loose on the system and the country.
What Fitch exposes is the fault lines of bad economic and bad fiscal policy.
Who prepares this?

Anonymous said...

FITCh shows the damage Michel-conomy has done to Seychelles and Seychellois .....

Seychellois economy are being suck by foreigners ..and a small gang of pl thugs ...creating mass poor while a few have became very rich ....
Developemnt was supposed to alleivaite poverty ...under MIChel voodddo economy Seychellois mass have became poor .while a foreigners control our economy and made themselves trich to the likes of Vijay .....

Apart from that ..I heard pl saying"pl always won a majority in election"of course ,,in a one party ystem ,,the dictator alwqays won everything and often by 100 percent .......and offen by fraud ..
Ththat pl with less than 50 percent of the population behind him ,thinks it will win a majority ....can only happened by fraud ...for what we have been seeing in all political rallies recently ..is that LDS attract thosands of people in each of its rally ,while pl literally attract hundreds or less like we saw on praslin last month......if pl win a majority ,,,it would mean fraud ...

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