Jeetun Statements That Don't Survive A Fact-Check

 1. BRP is unsustainable because it represents 25% of the budget (2026). Whilst it's true that the BRP has been used as an electoral weapon in at least three general elections one must not forget that the economy is about 2.5X smaller than what the 15% flat tax and other unsustainable tax structures since 2006 were supposed to generate. So if we divide by 2.5 we get roughly a very manageable 10% which going forward will even decrease with an average management of the economy.

2. Our free public health system is a very heavy burden for the state so that we'll need to find solutions in the future (2026). Our public health system has for all intents and purposes crashed. Rs18.5 billion was set aside for it in the 2025/26 budget which represents only 2.3% of GDP. Seychelles budgeted 5% of GDP for the same item. Do the math. Don't forget that our economy is 2.5X smaller than what Sithanen had forecasted.

3. BRP targeting is almost inevitable otherwise there will come a time when there will be no money to pay any BRP to anyone (2026). Navin Ramgoolam has used the same argument which we've debunked again recently in Preokipasion Sitwayin.

4. Is this why I have joined politics and how will I look pensioners in their eyes (2026)? How did it go last year when people who were going to turn 60 did not get their BRP? You should also look in their eyes and explain to them why you think a crashing public health system is a very heavy burden.

5. It's a budget that sets the stage for growth (2026). Nope. We're going to be stuck in what for Mauritius are very low growth rates as abusive IPP contracts are likely not to have been renewed at reasonable terms because otherwise government would have used this information as a genuine selling point. There are also other factors preventing a much higher growth rate.

6. There are two ways of increasing the revenues of the state. One is to cut expenses like pensions, the other is to increase revenues through growth (2026). You likely meant reducing the deficit and eventually reducing the debt/GDP ratio. But there are more ways of reducing the deficit including introducing a wealth tax, reducing wastage, merging parastatals and selling participation in state assets. While we certainly don't want government to sell ownership in government assets, a wealth tax is overdue given the mess the unsustainable tax structure for the past twenty years has put Mauritius into. We can also reduce the deficit by eliminating the abusive IPP contracts as this will make our economy grow faster. Ask Germany about this point if you're having trouble understanding it.

7. We used to produce 700,000 tons of sugar a long time ago but now we produce 200,000 to 225,000 tons. We should be able to increase our sugar production (2026). Sugar weighs only about 0.5% of our economy which means that it's been dead for a long time. No amount of money will revive it. It did get a gift of Rs 5 billion in 2007. That was pure wastage.

8. The best way to help a poor person is to give him a good job. This will give him dignity (2026). And what exactly does stealing the BRP and throwing thousands into poverty do? Or concreting agricultural lands that puts him out of the real estate market for good?

9. Last year we were at the edge of a cliff. We took some difficult decisions. Today we can breathe a little better (2026). As we've shown several times there were plenty of things that government could have done to improve public finances instead of stealing the BRP of our old folks.

10. Two of the areas where lack of planning and investment has been severe over the past 10 years have been in water and electricity (2026). Not 10 years, but 20. Tell us how many kms of leaking pipes have been changed each year since 2005 and how much did the CEB invest in extra power generation over the same period? You're also awfully quiet on the abusive IPP contracts that have been killing our economy and international competitiveness for more than two decades. Three of them were due for renewal between December 2024 and September 2025. An update would be nice.

11. Mansoor who was in a room filled with brilliant minds of this country told us to target a 6% growth rate so that we can reach 4.7%-5% which in 2050 will get us to half where Singapore [GDP per capita] is otherwise if we target 4.7% we'll get only 3% (2026). Mansoor was a predominant figure of the Sithanen reforms which were supposed to get us 8% growth with a country-ruining flat tax of 15%. After 20 years of that poison we got only 3.3% average growth. So how come he's in that room packed with our brilliant minds? By the way can we have the footage of the deliberations of that group of people? Also it is quite surprising that you stayed in that room given that you don't master even the basic stuff. Speaking about Singapore, in 2021 it had a GDP per capita that was about 9X ours. Two main factors explain a lot of the abyss between the two tigers.

12. Government had options one being to increase VAT (2026). There was absolutely no reason to increase a regressive tax like VAT. As the premise on which our tax structure was flattened in 2006 was that we would get 8% growth but ended up with 3.3% it makes sense to make those who didn't deliver pay and that would be corporates and wealthy individuals.

13. The PM chose the option which is less painful for most people (2026). Can you remind us how many people benefited from the reduction in the fair share contribution in the 2025/26 budget? And while you're at it how many people have been affected by the cruel and completely unnecessary postponement of the age of eligibility for the BRP last year and the means targeting of the BRP in the 2026/27 budget?

14. We are making the national cake bigger and increasing GDP per capita (2026). We need to be careful in using GDP per capita as it suffers from the same problem of any average that is it says little on how the cake is distributed.

15. You can either make the same people pay more tax or make more people pay some tax. When you're making the cake bigger you're making more people pay some tax (2026). You're either lying through your teeth, unaware how the economy works, have not been told that the VAT threshold was lowered by 50% in the 2025/26 budget, oblivious to the fact that government had removed many people from the tax net in last year's budget or some combination of all four.

16. DFIs are not allowed to use a financial centre which is not investment grade (2026). Not too long ago you said on a radio show that a senior German official told you in a conference in Africa that they had stopped using Mauritius because there's a perception that we're a tax haven. Hopefully you understood that the German was trying to be polite because would you believe one second that they did not carry out a thorough assessment of Mauritius? And who's stupid enough to believe that we're not a tax haven?

17. We have to stay the course even if there's a lot of critics because we're doing what's good for the country something which the population will eventually realise (2026). The population has already realised that you're out of your depth and is looking forward to getting recall elections so that they throw incompetents like you out of parliament as soon as possible.

18. We need to export more so that there's less pressure on our rupee (2026). We should rather import a lot less. This is easy to do. We can legislate so as to force sugar estates to grow food instead of concreting agricultural lands. Especially given that our food security is as good as Saudi Arabia's.

19. We won't be able to get any growth as long as we have labour shortages (2026). There's a lot of unemployment and underemployment in Mauritius. If we provide opportunities to them we'll get a nice growth. We'll get an even better growth rate if abusive IPP contracts don't exist anymore.

20. I come from the private sector. If you don't bring results there you could be sacked (2026). Kindly explain to us what kind of results the senior management at the IPPs which have been ripping the population for more than 20 years with very abusive contracts bring month in month out.

World Bank Not Shutting Down Yet, Publishes Another Sloppy Report Instead

The Country Economic Memorandum (CEM) for Mauritius that came out recently is typical of the dumb reports that the World Bank (WB) dishes out non-stop. Skimming through it immediately brings back to mind Lee Kuan Yew’s famous observation:

What Harry Said 

About the WB

“The World Bank report’s conclusion are part of the culture of America and, by extension, of international institutions. It had to present its findings in a bland and universalizable way, which I find unsatisfying because it doesn’t grapple with the real problems. It makes the hopeful assumption that all men are equal, that people all over the world are the same. They are not.”

Sithanen Statements That Don't Survive A Fact-Check

1. No country invests more than 50% of their reserves in gold. Saying otherwise is pure folly (2009). Really?

What Did Trees in Beau-Vallon and Our Savings Culture Have in Common?

Another bleak reality is the decline in national savings rate. It has fallen from an average of 26 percent of GDP in the period 1996-2000 to 24.6 percent in the period 2001-2005. CSO is forecasting a very low savings rate of 19.5 percent for 2005. Here again, we must be utterly concerned. 

Rama Sithanen, 2005

... il a fait beaucoup de tort à la culture d'épargne des Mauriciens en enlevant les exemptions fiscales sur les prêts immobiliers ainsi que les études supérieures de leurs enfants, 

tout en taxant les intérêts bancaires.

Dan Bundhoo, 2014

Simple. They had gone through plenty but survived. There's a word for this and it is resilience. Granted it's a term that has been abused in Mauritius over the past decade. But it's easy to show what it really means. As RAFAL wrote about the resilience of trees recently I will focus on our savings culture. 

Why Tax Policy Should Be Detailed in Affidavits

Charity is a cold grey loveless thing. 

If a rich man wants to help the poor, 

he should pay his taxes gladly, 

not dole out money at a whim.

Clement Atlee, Former British Prime Minister

Which affidavits? The ones candidates and political parties in the forthcoming general election will swear before we shortlist them as worthy of our votes. We’ve seen how irresponsible income and corporate tax cuts implemented since 2006 have extensively damaged the economy and the social fabric under three different PMs. While Navin Ramgoolam’s position on taxes during the past five years has oscillated between lowering them further to 13% for women and not raising them should he return to power. This is kind of worrying because it is the most urgent and important thing to do to avoid a significant degradation of an atmosphere that’s already pretty bad. So until we have recall elections and statute referendums we need affidavits and debates on their contents. Because politicians put something in their manifestos and then do the exact opposite.

PJ Says No to More Women in Parliament

MPs from the PMSD and the Labour Party told the PM in parliament recently that if he presents a separate bill for an increased presence of women in our National Assembly (NA) they will vote for it. This is a very positive development given that we do pretty badly on this yardstick. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the start of 2019 four african countries ranked 12th or better as far as the proportion of female ministers in a cabinet go. Mauritius is 150th out of 178 spots while Rwanda takes position number six. We do slightly worse in terms of the percentage of women in parliament (156th out of 191 while Rwanda is first). But sadly the PM would have none of it replying that he can't see why he should do something these MPs failed to do when they were in power. A pretty lame excuse but no surprise here as female representation is part of the wrapping of a poisonous electoral reform that will make throwing MPs out of parliament a lot more difficult.

PM Sounds Death Knell for URA

By announcing that the price of water will not go up. See the Utility Regulatory Authority was set up on the basis of a rather sloppy justification to fix the price of stuff like water and electricity. Now if the PM decides that there won't be any increases it immediately makes that institution redundant. Why spend so much money on a new institution when the work can be done elsewhere like at the Ministry of Finance? It also cuts the energy minister who heads the tiniest of political parties to size and is another splendid reason for him to tender his resignation.

Why You Forgot 2018 is The Year of The 'Second Economic Miracle'

... je pense que vers 2008 nous pouvons réaliser un taux de croissance de 7/8%.

Rama Sithanen, 2005

54. In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting. 

Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation 2013 

No Miracle in Sight

Half of the fourth year of the Lepep government is almost gone and still no trace of the exceptional economic performance SAJ had promised for 2018. Only growth rates of less than 4% so far and the next two years are not likely to be any different. These are the lowest in decades. 

32% of World Bank Policy Reports Never Downloaded

"... I am not an engineer, I am not a technician and everything that I have done in my life is only law. So, I need expert advice and I am going to put experts and not politicians at the Head of the CEB and the CWA. I am not going to do appel international and all that."

Ivan Collendavelloo, in Parliament, March 2015

"... Nun fini konpran ki nu bizin lasistans de la bank mondyal pu ki nu kapav fer bann bon developman dan sekter delo."

Ivan Collendavelloo, Feb 2016

The World Has No Time
For This Kind Of Nonsense

So reported The Economist at the end of last May. It referred to a study by the World Bank on the popularity of its policy reports. As almost half of them are supposed to at least improve public debate the two authors of the report – Doerte Doemeland and James Trevino – looked at how many times 1,611 of these policy documents were downloaded. Turns out that almost a third was never downloaded. I am not surprised. I got to read a few them over the years and I must say there's a lot of rubbish in there. So I perfectly understand that no one is bothering about so many of these reports. Who has time for crap in this fast-moving, intelligent and hyper-connected world?

Why Implementing Lalit's Advice Makes A Lot of Sense

You know, the one that recommends bizin plant manze lor later tablisman. This is good advice any which way you look at it. Let's start with a historical perspective. As Chart 1 shows you don't need to be the best thing since sliced bread to understand that the sugar industry has been in an irreversible sunset phase for a long time. It accounted for close to a quarter of GDP forty years ago. Now at less than 1% it's about twenty-five times smaller. That too despite the silly policy of 'competitive depreciation' aka politik rupi mari feb. We can even calculate the approximate time it will hit the zero mark. That should definitely inform our national strategic decisions. Keeping a corpse on costly artificial respiration many years after the soul has departed ain't exactly a smart decision especially when at the same time you cut the oxygen supply of incubators. We can keep a 100 hectares as a souvenir. At most.

Lepep Not Mandated To Sell Any Part of the CWA

It’s Not in Their Manifesto

Page 19 has five points under the heading of “Fourniture d’eau”. One such point is “Remplacement à court et moyen termes les tuyaux désuets afin d’assurer une fourniture régulière 24 heures sur 24…” Basic common sense when we know that 1,600km of our pipes – some of which are over 50 years old – need to be replaced, right? Another one is “Aménager des barrages dans nos rivières pour récupérer autant d’eau que possible pour être canalisés vers les stations de traitement”. Who will disagree with this when we know we don’t capture enough of all the rainfall that we’re blessed to receive every year? The three other points deal with the Bagatelle dam, emergency water trucks and reforestation. No mention of privatisation of any part of the CWA or subterfuges like affermage. Didn’t see any plan for the CEB to create private companies to avoid the Central Procurement Board either.

Did Lepep Change Its Mind?

If it has it will have to ask voters for their permission on such a fundamental issue because there is no way it would have won 47-13 in December 2014 if one of its electoral pledges was to mess up our public utilities one way or another. It can do that in two ways. One is to call for fresh general elections and the other is to organise a referendum on the issue. A referendum is a lot better as it would enlarge our democratic space and enable Government to get the clearest of signals.

Wong Had Little to Do With Massive Amount of Poverty Created

Because he was not Finance Minister (FM) during any of the past eleven years when by far the most backward policies -- top tax rates were set too low and this broke the economy -- our country has known were implemented. For sure he has been a member of Cabinet during the last two and half years and as such has to accept part of the responsibility of the mess we're in because he could have vehemently asked for the end of the worship of the golden calf. Or at least distanced himself from it. Besides he was until recently a member of a party which has two interesting words in its name: Social Democrate.

XLD, Less So

Of course Xavier-Luc Duval (XLD) has a lot more to do with all the poverty created over the last decade because he was in the driver's seat for quite some time -- close to three years. But before we look into this let us not forget that poverty and the fight against it is heavily dependent on two quantities: the size of the economic cake (GDP) and how it is shared. From the 2012 household budget survey (HBS) -- which tells us about the sharing -- we know for a fact that the poorest two-tenths of Mauritian households saw their shares shrink by 10% to 15%. That's their smallest shares in at least two decades if you care to know. So we don't exactly get bonus points here. And what about GDP?