31/07/2016
“A new era of development” is what the Minister of Finance seems to be aiming at after his Budget Speech for this year. He has set two major targets, namely achieving a 4.1% Annual Growth Rate for 2016-2017, and decreasing the budgetary deficit down to 3.3%. The measures proposed to reach these goals are, as always, moot. Some have a socialist tinge, like that of decreasing tax on vehicles and or giving living allowances to destitute people, while others can be termed as recurring, such as developing the blue/green economy or creating industrial parks to encourage investment. There were some “classical” ideas – better road infrastructure, improving public health services, increasing taxes on ci******es and alcohol – which were matched by the more innovative ones : the local manufacturing of motorcycles, the fusion of parastatal bodies, the Regulatory Sandbox License amongst others. We also had a fair share of rather surprising measures, which included the distribution of tablets to Std 1 and Std 2 pupils, fiscal exemptions to certain enterprises and the allowances given to socio-religious groups.
What is your opinion of this Budget 2016? What are some ideas that you think are missing?
Interestingly, a few of the solutions announced by the Minister - such as better reaching out to Africa in terms of trade and regional cooperation, or revamped investment frameworks and facilities - were, prior to the Budget 2016, propounded by a few of our members, namely Vegen Soopramanien, Avish Buramdoyal and Segaren Parasuraman, in our Economy conference. Young leaders indeed!
