My hunch is that the STC never had any billion-rupee hedging losses but that we were forced to pay abusive gas prices to make up for the fiscal shortfall created by the Sithanen-Mansoor's flat tax experiment given that the proverbial robust growth rates never arrived.
This aspect of Shaitanomics has already played a part in preventing us and our economy from participating in the global rebound underway by making a dent in our overall competitiveness. And Pravind Jugnauth's intention of increasing excise duties on petroleum by 10% will make sure it will have another one to play in keeping us in our economic slumber. He should instead increase the special levy on banks or nudge corporate taxes upwards.
All of this doesn't look good for Mo Ibrahim's poster child for governance, does it?
6 comments:
Someone needs to win it, The Mo Ibrahim prize, and who knows maybe objectively this STC scam is nothing compared to what our dear African leaders do other there!What can we say - we are the best among the worst!
Mauritius is in an odd age really, let me give you an example - I spent a year in Montreal and there all the major newspapers are fighting for their survival because nowadays most news is available online (provided for free by themselves actually, they have no choice). Here in Mauritius, one of the well known daily paper has now introducted paid online access! The business model of Mauritius is strange to say the least! Or maybe its time we made the internet really cheap and change this odd looking model forever!
The buisness model for STC is as follows - The Mauritian public is a milk giving cow with endless capabilities AND it is also a chicken laying golden eggs.Have a healthy breakfast as long as you like, pinochio aux pays des jouets!
Cruel truth: the same government servants who planned for the twisted APM formula that penalises the whole range of MoGas / GasOil buyers are probably the same government servants that are entrenched against the concept of toll roads into Port Louis because their own offices are principally in the capital...
And those who don't care about the price of petroleums and make an abuse of the roads should be punished like this: http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/France_Monde/actualite/Secteur_France_Monde/2010/08/14/article_l-histoire.shtml
Electricity bills go up as from DEMAIN. Its probably because of the famous triple shocks...or its echoes!
In yesterday's Le Mauricien, 'Le nouveau ministre du Commerce Michaël Sik Yuen a répondu en des termes on ne peut plus clairs que les hedging losses d'un montant de Rs 4,7 milliards ainsi que les intérêts de Rs 250 M doivent être payés par les consommateurs. "Il faut bien que quelqu'un fasse les frais. The consumers will pay that amount", a-t-il dit...'
Why not start by making those nice people sitting on the board of the STC accountable for their decisions: as done belatedly in the case of Rose Belle Sugar Estate and as per the declared intention of Macarena-boy himself? But what's restraining the momentum gained in RBSE's case to usher our very dear MAM out too...?
So, if you are following this STCM / STC saga, after STC's parent ministry oggling obscenely at our pockets for filling in the hedging mess, this twist in the story confirms that the mad are running the asylum. Dodoland, coummence serre ceintirr!
One thing though: professionals (accountants, medical doctors, engineers etc) are required to provide a Professional Indemnity to cover for the consequences of their potential professional faults. Why not ask the same kind of guarantee from those who gamble with the State's funds as in the case for STC/STCM or bankers/traders? Non, pas capave? Too much regulation kills competitiveness? And what if I say that it is the reckless / incosiderate decisions of non-accountable gamblers that can kill the economy itself?
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