SEYCHELLES REALITY

More than 31,450 French travellers visited the Seychelles since the beginning of the year.   Thus, from 1 January to the end of the third week of December 2014, on the 217,630 tourists which visited the Seychelles, travellers from France were left behind only by German visitors who were on their side over 35,020 tourists who visited the archipelago.   As a reminder, 230,272 tourists visited the Seychelles in 2013. Countries origin                 Number of visitors Germany                             35027 France                                  31452 Italy    ...

Le 18 août 2014, le corps sans vie du Mauricien Harmon Chellen, une figure importante du tourisme de l’Ile Maurice, est retrouvé en mer aux Seychelles. Quelques jours plus tard, Lindley Couronne, Directeur de DIS-MOI publie une tribune qui souligne les aspects incohérents de cette affaire qu’il juge suspecte. L’article fait énormément de bruit à l’Ile Maurice et est aujourd’hui un de ceux qui ont été le plus consulté sur notre site. Le 28 août, Lindley Couronne publie une nouvelle tribune dans le journal Le Mauricien  où il parle des suites de l’enquête et des réactions des citoyens après son premier billet. Aujourd’hui, il reprend la plume dans le journal L’Express  de l’Ile Maurice : nous reproduisons ici ses propos. Acculé par la pression citoyenne régionale, l’État des Seychelles, par l’intermédiaire de l’Attorney General de l’archipel, réclame désormais une enquête judiciaire. Requête que nous saluons. Toutefois, la vigilance reste plus que ...

19/12/14 09:15, Bishkek – 24.kg news agency,  Following the takeover of AsiaUniversalBank (AUB) by the Kyrgyz Interim Government in April 2010 an investigation was launched into the money laundering and balance sheet fixing schemes of the bank.  The Kyrgyz Republic's Attorney General's Office is still mulling over tons of corporate documents and payment orders of the AUB multi-billion dollar payment flow.  Some episodes already resulted in criminal convictions: Michael Nadel, the main owner of AUB, was convicted on 22 nd October 2014 by Pervomaisky Court of Bishkek for embezzling millions from AUB and dressing up its accounts using offshore companies, to hide the embezzlement. In 2011, long before the criminal sentence was given, the laundering and embezzlement episodes were subject to a public investigation by Global Witness, an NGO covering financial crime and related themes. In its report titled «Grave Secrec...

Seychelles Agrees Tax Policy Focus With IMF Over the three-year term of the newly-agreed USD17.8m Extended Fund Facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Seychelles' fiscal policy framework will be dictated by the Government's target of reducing public debt below 50 percent (from 65 percent) of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2018. The IMF reminded the Seychelles Government that "fiscal policy faces negative pressures, as revenue and grants have been falling as a proportion of GDP, and current spending has been rising in the face of pent up spending demands." The IMF said the Government will need to "carry out wide-ranging structural reforms necessary to support improvement in macroeconomic conditions, lock-in [fiscal] stabilization, and reduce the country's vulnerabilities." The IMF said that, although the Government's 2013 fiscal position was on-budget, tax revenue pressures have emerged. Business and income tax ...

By Hajira Amla Victoria — The Bank of Muscat International Offshore (BMIO) in Seychelles is facing re-structuring by the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS). The reserve bank took control of the locally-registered BMIO in November following the breakdown of the latter's foreign correspondent banking relationship the month before, and announced the news of BMIO's re-organisation in a press statement issued on Friday. "CBS has throughout been working closely with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in an attempt to address the issues faced by BMIO," read the statement. "Following negotiations, CBS has been successful in re-establishing correspondent banking relationship for BMIO which has allowed for some transfers to be effected thus far." BMIO's lack of banking representatives overseas had left the bank unable to process outward foreign currency transfers for its clientele, with clients abroad unable to perform transfers or deposits...

Seychelles has priced itself out of the global tourism market mainly due to excessive government taxes levied on persons and businesses. Taxes used for shoring up the Social Security and the extravagant pension schemes. Millions of rupees wasted on official government travel, liked going to watch the Bahrain Grand Prix, stupid stuff that has turned Seychelles into one of the most expensive places to spend your vacation. But that is not all.Air Seychelles was run into the ground then sold to the Arabs after years of bankruptcy and carrying not much more than the Air Seychelles logo painted on its tail. The Arabs now run it like a real airline by hopping from node to node and trying to fill their planes with a rapid dwindling population of tourists and cargo headed for Seychelles. Outward appearances not withstanding including those tall and glitzy empty buildings, the UAE is still a lopsided one primary raw material economy. It's survival depends on the vagaries on the global...

Sat Dec 13, 2014 6:32am GMT VICTORIA Dec 13 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said Seychelles' economy will grow at 2.8 percent this year, lower than its initial forecast of 3.7 percent, due to weaker demand for the country's main exports. The Indian Ocean archipelago relies on exports of canned tuna and its tourism business for hard currency earnings. A surge in imports, driven by better incomes and access to credit, had put further pressure on the exchange rate, which weakened 11 percent between August and October this year, the IMF said in a statement seen by Reuters on Saturday. It said the central bank's decision to tighten the reserve money target for the fourth quarter will dampen the inflationary effects of the currency's depreciation. The IMF approved the disbursement of $2.4 million to Seychelles, part of a an extended credit facility in June this year, it said in the ...

Boris Johnson should settle a six-figure tax bill in the US, the American ambassador indicated yesterday. The London Mayor, who was born in New York and has dual citizenship, revealed last month that he is being pursued by the US tax authorities over profits made on the sale of a home in London. American citizens are required to pay taxes on income over a certain level, even if the money is already taxed abroad. Mr Johnson described the demand as ‘incredible’, and suggested he would not pay. But US Ambassador Matthew Barzun indicated that Mr Johnson should settle up. Speaking to journalists in Westminster, he refused to be drawn on the details of the London Mayor’s case. But he said: ‘We have our rules and we expect people to play by them. 'If you get the benefits of being an American citizen you pay your fair share in taxes.’ The disputed tax bill is believed to relate to the sale of Mr Johnson’s first home in London. He is reported to have bought the pro...

Fewer Europeans are planning to go away for a summer holiday as economic austerity bites, a new study shows, with levels of foreign vacation travel at their lowest for eight years. No more than 54 percent of Europeans are planning to get away for summer holiday this year, according to the Ipsos-Europ Assistance "holiday barometer" published Thursday. Europ Assistance Group CEO Martin Vial said there was "a clear correlation between the intensity of the slump and holiday intentions". Unsurprisingly the countries with the highest unemployment rates were the worst hit. "The scope of the crisis in Spain and Italy is particularly visible in departure plans," the report said, with fewer than one in two Spaniards planning to leave on holiday this summer and little more than half of Italians. Due to "less tense" economic and social situations the departure plans for Germans and Au...

Corruption is a problem for all economies, requiring leading financial centres in the EU and US to act together with fast-growing economies to stop the corrupt from getting away with it, anti-corruption group Transparency International said today. In the 20 th edition of the Corruption Perceptions Index, scores for China (with a score of 36 out of 100), Turkey (45) and Angola (19) were among the biggest fallers with a drop of 4 or 5 points, despite average economic growth of more than 4 per cent over the last four years. Click here for the full index. “The 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index shows that economic growth is undermined and efforts to stop corruption fade when leaders and high level officials abuse power to appropriate public funds for personal gain,” said José Ugaz, the chair of Transparency International. “Corrupt officials smuggle ill-gotten assets into safe havens through offshore companies with absolute impunity,” Ugaz added. “Countries at the bottom ...

HERE'S A GUY WHO PROBABLY THINKS THE SEYCHELLOIS PEOPLE SUDDENLY SHOWED UP AT PORT VICTORIA .. AS IF BY DIVINE INTERVENTION .. THE SKIES OPENED UP .. MORMON TABERNACLE WAS PLAYING "THE MESSIAH" .. LORD AND BEHOLD .. VOILA .. HE DROPPED A BUNCH OF PEOPLE ON THE BEACH .. THE "SEYCHELLOIS" WERE BORN .. IS THAT WHAT U THINK MISTER? WELL I HAVE NEWS FOR U .. IN CASE U NEVER READ THE HISTORY OF UR OWN COUNTRY .. IF UR SCARED OF FOREIGNERS? HOW R U GOING TO SURVIVE IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS? THERE'S NO PLACE FOR XENOPHOBIC PEOPLE LIKE U .. THAT RACINE "CRAP" MAY BE OK IN PLACES LIKE BOSNIA .. BUT NOT IN SEYCHELLES .. UR TOO SMALL FOR THAT KIND OF STUFF .. UR DIVIDE AND RULE MESSAGE BELONGS IN A DIFFERENT ERA U PROBABLY THINK THE SEYCHELLOIS PEOPLE R REALLY STUPID DON'T U? THAT THEY WOULD FALL FOR THAT KIND OF UNADULTERATED CRAP? U MUST BE LIVING IN UR OWN LITTLE DISNEY WORLD .. TON MANCHAM UNIFED THE SEYCHELLES AND TOOK IT...