Better late than never

President Michel has belatedly given some recognition the to oldest and longest established business organisation in Seychelles, the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), by appointing Mr. Albert Payet, the current SCCI chairperson, to the National Economic Planning Council (NEPC). The appointment comes after almost a year since Michel announced the creation of the NEPC soon after his election as president of the Republic.

The NEPC itself, it appears, was created to replace the NEC (National Economic Council) which Michel set up in 2004 soon after he acceded to the presidency following the resignation of President Albert Rene. However, while members of the SCCI, principally its then chairperson Bernard Pool and Vice-chairperson Albert Payet, were invited to sit on the council, for some un-explained reason Michel ignored the SCCI as a body completely. Attempts to invite the President of the Republic to an informal function hosted by the organisation in order for ordinary members to meet with him were always frustrated.

The National Economic Planning Council (NEPC) was set up in August 2006 by President Michel, more or less to replace the NEC but with new faces. According to the communiqué at the time, it was established “to formulate medium and long-term economic strategies for Seychelles development. The Council will also be the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations. It will provide policy guidance and recommendations to the authorities on economic and related issues in order to achieve stable economic growth consistent with the pursuit of sustainable socio-economic development, attain the highest possible level of employment, and a fair distribution of incomes.”

The NEPC is chaired by President Michel. All the members have been nominated as well as appointed by him, including heads of various companies from the private sector, even though the official communiqué claimed they were “representatives of the private sector”. Mr. Albert Payet will be the only member who can legitimately claim that he represents a private sector organisation as opposed to a company.

So far, the NEPC has not published any document pertaining to any “policy guidance” or “recommendations ... on economic and related issues” made to the government. On the other hand, during the National Assembly election campaign, President Michel launched a small but slick booklet entitled Seychelles Strategy 2017, which, according to inside information, was printed in Dubai, and air freighted to Seychelles. The book does not prescribe a solution to the worsening foreign exchange problem. Rather, it presents a list of good intentions of the government in the manner of a manifesto. As strategy goes, it does not tell you just how it will overcome the hurdle of highest ratio of public debt to GDP of any country in the world to achieve a doubling of GDP in 10 years.

Since November last year, however, the Central Bank has been depreciating the currency almost on a daily basis. To date the depreciation has exceeded 20%. So far, the measure has had little impact on the availability of foreign exchange in the banking system. Instead, it has driven the parallel market to record levels for all currencies. It is not known if this decision was based on the “guidance” or “recommendations” of the NEPC.