SEYCHELLES REALITY

 Fitch Ratings has affirmed Seychelles' Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'B', Long-term local currency IDR at 'B+' and Short-term foreign currency IDR at 'B'. The Outlook is Positive. Fitch has also affirmed Seychelles' Country Ceiling at 'B'. KEY RATING DRIVERS Seychelles' 'B' IDRs and Positive Outlook reflect the following key rating drivers: -Positive fiscal dynamics. Strong budget discipline has been enforced since the start of the IMF-supported programme at end-2008. The primary budget surplus has averaged 8% of GDP since 2009 due to substantial reforms including a marked cut in public sector employment, tighter control on expenditure and reform in public companies. Fitch expects the primary surplus to be 5.1% of GDP in 2013 and public debt to decline to 54% of GDP by 2015 (from 70.5% in 2012) due to continuing surpluses. -Improved macroeconomic stability. Inflation has slowed since its peak ...

Port Victoria: Upon directives of Dr. Shaikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Advisor to the UAE President, Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan bin Khalifa opened on Friday the Shaikh Sultan Bin Khalifa mosque in Seychelles in the presence of Jean-Paul Adam, the island’s Foreign Minister and Dick Patrick Esparon Seychelles’ Ambassador to the UAE. The mosque, which accommodates 600 male and female worshippers and a centre for holy Quran memorisation, was a donation from Shaikh Sultan to the Quran and Sunnah Association, which sponsors nearly 2,000 Muslims. In his opening sermon, the mosque imam paid gratitude to the UAE leadership for the noble humanitarian gesture.  http://gulfnews.com

Steve Fanny kicked the bucket at the Ministry of Finance last month. Mr Fanny is famous for his involvement in the Seychelles Offshore sector as a CEO of Seychelles International Business Authority (SIBA). For years we watched Mr Fanny tell us where the offshore sector was, where it is going, with exuberance, only to now see that the Seychelles offshore is dying, because all these years Mr Fanny was at SIBA, not a single person or company has been brought to trial for criminally using offshore companies to commit illicit acts such as money laundering, drug trafficking, arms dealing, etc. Only one company Lotus offshore had its licence suspended and Zen Offshore. Lawyers involved in these offshore company registration businesses, still practice law. Steve Fanny 4th Pillar Of Economy Dead The single idea of establishing Seychelles as an offshore sector belongs to one man: Mr Paul B. Chow. Credit to you Mr Chow on this good idea, left in SPPF hands, has now gone to rot. On the outs...

21 October 2013 – Noting Seychelles’ efforts to develop a marine-based economy while reducing ocean degradation and alleviating poverty, an independent United Nations human rights expert today urged greater attention to teaching skills in the ‘blue economy.’ Following his first visit to the country, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Kishore Singh, said that technical and vocational education and training, and collaboration with industry and enterprises “must be strengthened to ensure that the Seychellois acquire the skills and competencies needed to build the nation.” He noted a lack of dedicated, training teachers, a trend he called “very alarming” and said that the profession “is not attractive enough” for the quality education needed. “If the quality of education is to improve, measures must be taken to restore the esteem of the profession, as well as teaching conditions, to ensure the best students are attracted to teaching,” Mr. Singh said...

Threaten Shutdown To Destabilize Seychelles Overnight Praslin and La Digue cargo boat operators, ferries, tourism excursion boats, excursion charter operations, were completely sideline in any discussions by the Seychelles Port Authority and Ministry of Transport as it brought into law new regulations that would increase fees for port usage of boats critical to inter island commerce, and as critical to the Seychelles Tourisn Industry. The new fees and charges under S.I. 60 OF 2013 effective October the 1st, 2013, send the ferry and cargo industry into an immediate tail spin as they saw generations of sea farers from four main families: Grandcourt (Grand Anse Praslin), Lesperance-Rose (Baie Ste Anne Praslin), Adrienne (Baie Ste Anne Praslin), Durup ( La Passe La Digue) now faced with shutdown and an end of an era of Seychellois owned and captained sea service, because new proposal by the Ministry of Transportation would render all their businesses unprofitable and hence, open the doo...

La demande d'extradition des symboles de l'ancien régime, en vertu d'une commission rogatoire émise à cet effet, était au centre de l'entretien qu'a eu le ministre des Affaires étrangères, Othman Jerandi, en marge de sa participation à la 68e Assemblée générale de l'ONU à New York, avec son homologue seychellois, Jean-Paul Adam. Selon un communiqué du ministère des Affaires étrangères rendu public vendredi, Othman Jerandi a évoqué au cours de cet entretien le mandat d'arrêt international émis à l'encontre de Sakhr El-Matri (gendre du président déchu Ben Ali) auquel les autorités seychelloises avaient accordé un permis de résidence de 12 mois. Othman Jerandi a rappelé la position de la Tunisie dénonçant cette décision contraire au texte de la convention Interpol et en opposition aux efforts de la Tunisie visant à instaurer la justice transitionnelle, indique le communiqué. Jerandi a, à cet égard, appelé les autorités des Seychelles à pre...

GENEVA, Switzerland, October 11, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Education reforms and the education of vulnerable children are among the issues to be assessed in the Republic of Seychelles by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Kishore Singh, during his official visit to the country from 14 to 21 October 2013. “This mission will allow us to assess the efforts undertaken by Seychelles to implement the right to education, the measures adopted for its successful realization, and the obstacles encountered at the national level,” said Mr. Singh, announcing the first visit to the country by an independent expert designated by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor and report on the right to education. The UN expert will also evaluate the recent reform programs adopted by the Seychelles Government on education issues, with a view towards evaluating practical lessons relevant to small island states, including a perspective on the post-201...

Tourism Australia was declared the overall winner of the World Routes Awards 2013 which were formally announced at the Garden of the Gods at Caesars Palace. This was for Tourism Destination. The nominated countries for this category were:- Tourism Australia, Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau, Turismo de Tenerife, Republic of Turkey – Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Seychelles Tourism Board. Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture who was personally in Las Vegas for the 2013 World ROUTES meeting said he was honoured to have again seen Seychelles nominated for the Destination category. “We are small when compared to the other countries nominated, but we can say we are walking tall with these giants with our head high” the Seychelles Minister said to the press at the Garden of the Gods at Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas. Seychelles is one country where tourism remains the pillar of its economy. The Government o...

Seychelles Junk Rating : "B" Positive. Fitch credit rating agency recently reaffirmed its Seychelles rating with a "B" (Junk, high risk) outlook. Fitch noted that the rating is cautioned and that Government of Seychelles must stick to its marco economic program or Fitch will further down grade Seychelles Credit Rating. Such a rating is a result of tight fiscal policy, and tight monetary policy, which has led to a reserve of $380 Million, the highest ever achieved in Seychelles which at one point had less then $2Million in the Central Bank, and we defaulted on a $3 Million payout on Lehman Brothers Bonds. The tea boy at the IMF The rating confirms Seychelles remains a high risk or Junk rating as a country for investment. Pierre Laporte In Lala Land On SBC, Pierre Laporte, the Minister for Finance, went off giving a heavy winded speech to the SBC journalist about this great rating and "above average" country rating, as if...

No sooner than Seychelles received a dubious award from South African Development Community through Danny Faure, and things started to look impressive for the Communist PL regime, the Seychelles Police made a blunder of blunders early Monday morning in Victoria, and arrested, detained, Mr Ralph Volcere who walk to town, sporting a mobile phone in hand and a placard on shoulders saying: "Annou Repran Nou Pei" translated into English: Let's take back our Country" or "Let's Do A Coup".  The Inference the Police drew from this is Mr Volcere advocating a Coup and they took these words to be incitement to violence and incitement to treason. If Mr Volcere had a AK47 in hand, instead of a mobile phone (Nokia), the Police may have a case. They have no case of course. The calls were made not to people holding guns, but to people holding other placards. Gurhkas Surround Seychellois in Victoria In no time a number of Gurhkas surrounded the area where Mr ...