Economic Kidnapping

That's how you could christen what a few whiners of Mauritius Inc. have been trying to do. Having a neocon as Sithanen as Minister of Finance makes their task incredibly easy. Having a civil society that gets stronger by the day doesn't. Achtung!: you may want to pinch your nose before reading this.

1. They were asking workers to give up this year's compensation so as to save their jobs.
2. They were also asking for taxpayers' money so that they don't sack people. But they offer no guarantees that they will not lay off anybody even after receiving our money.
3. A few had even the indecency of asking for public funds even though they were doing alright. They wanted these handouts just in case they might get into trouble. Which gives you a hint of their entrepreneurial ability.

Naturally they wanted all of this over and above the inequality-creating flat tax and a persistent depreciation of our rupee they already received. They want everyday to be Christmas.

After Massively Creating Poverty, Minister Now Aiming to Kill the Economy

For an open and small economy like Mauritius if there is one concept that we should focus all of our energies on it has to be our competitiveness. Not something Sithanen has on his mind though.

After having made an indecent gift of Rs5 billion to a industry that has been dead for ages, he now seems to want to shut down Mauritius Inc. by not capping how much money government makes on rising fuel prices through VAT.

That's on top of uncompetitive electricity prices that reflect the vested interests of a few rent-seekers and public investments that have declined for three straight years in real terms. Which means that we should expect more misery and trouble until he is shown the exit.