Barely a year after President Michel made his solemn promise that he will never allow the Seychelles Rupee to lose its value against major currencies like the US dollar, Euro and the Pound Sterling during his campaign for State House, the Seychelles Rupee is at its lowest ever against the British Pound. The commercial banks on the advice of the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) this week (17/07/2007) has been selling Pound Sterling at a maximum rate of Rs13.2649. When compared to exchange rates of October 9th, 2006 featured in our table the British Pounds was then selling at a maximum of Rs10.6260. In the ten months since October 2006, the Seychelles Rupee has gone down in value against the British Pound by Rs2.6389, a clear 20%.
This is devaluation on a major scale; President Michel has not kept to his words, he misled the electorate deliberately in gaining a fresh mandate of five years. The Governor of the Central Bank, Francis Chang-Leng is hiding away in his glass house and for all his expertise on monetary matters cannot offer any justification for this new development. During the first quarter of this year Chang-Leng appeared on our television screens over and over again harping on about this new basket he was getting involved in. Can he now come forward to give us an up-to-date statement on the situation or is it too much to ask? Or is he too busy managing personal affairs?
