The financial crisis in Europe, which entails further economic integration on the African continent
“Based on its tremendous experience in its main economic markets, mainly tourism, textiles, financial services, the country is now actively moving towards new markets into Asia and Africa,” Duval said.
“The country’s active engagement into promoting regional integration and reducing cross border barriers to trade and investment will further help reinforce its position as a gateway to Africa,” Duval added.
According to Mr. Duval, progressing into Africa is of big significance as the continent is forecasted to record a yearly growth of six per cent over the next 10 years with some remarkable investment prospects, notably private equity investments from Mauritian enterprises.
The Prime Ministers Offices expressed within a press statement that the newly created Africa Centre for Business Excellence, housed inside the Board of Investment building in is now a fundamental player on African economic evolution itinerary.
With regional integration in Africa a big talking point in Mauritius currently with recent tax treaty agreements with Kenya, Mozambique and Nigeria, the government is stepping up its diplomatic efforts across the African continent and with Asian superpower China as to with the Indian
government on the side lines.
There has been an surge in the development of investment holding companies in Mauritius recently highlighted in several government fiscal reports and as such private companies are mostly set up to take advantage of double tax treaties and investment preferential protocols the country grasps with numerous African states.
According to the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius (FSC) statistics in 2011, the bulk of offshore enterprises set up in Mauritius investing in Africa represent 40 per cent shadowed by India at 23 per cent.
With many African nations taking unparalleled methods to renovate their economies and maintain political solidity, investors have eagle-eyed numerous opportunities arising in several sectors such as mineral mining and energy production and Information Technology services across the continent.
The government recently released a report on some of the detrimental impacts that the Euro crisis is having on the economy.
Facing the Euro zone crisis -report indicated in some of its findings that the euro zone financial issues and globalization are enthralling the nation to take cautionary steps at the delicacies of the Mauritian economy and to reassess its core economic strengths which have largely derived from the sugar can industry and tourism sector.
The stream of foreign direct investments in the continent is expected to rise substantially, from side to side Mauritius’s geographic positioning and has been touted to becoming the gateway to transmit monies into Africa many financial analysts have sketched in Mauritius.
The island’s affiliation in several regional confederacies such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Southern African Development Community (SADC) has fortified its recent African economic integration push politically.
The recent foray in into the African optimism has come with some criticism however, with newspaper columnists and banking sector economists warning that a knee jerk reaction has unfolded because of concerns in traditional trading partners France and the United Kingdom showing a sharp downturn in overall economic figures .
Political observers within many Mauritian media houses suggest that the nation is emerging as a hub between Africa and Asia simultaneously because of the nation embracing bilingualism in French and English, and its cultural and demographic nearness with India.
Equally criticism has been billed towards the government for not establishing well-defined links with Africa sooner, stating that it should have been undertaken many years ago with a wider taking a Pan –African view and not euro- centric.
It is widely believed Mauritian firms Harel Mallac Group CIEL Capital and Mauritius Commercial Bank, with their long-running presence in Africa will benefit immensely in the interim from future prosperous diplomatic relations.
With these companies comprehensions of the economic climate in Africa they are well situated to take advantage and in the region of this new founded economic landscape charted by the Mauritian administration, as with many other companies wishing to join the regional economic bandwagon.
