Commenting on the budget presented on June 7, Jean-Pierre Dalais, President of Business Mauritius, the main private sector grouping in Mauritius said: “The budget has a strong social focus as well as several measures advocated by the business community. It is now important to successfully implement them.
He added: “We note a substantial investment in infrastructure and food security, as well as strong support for the energy transition to align the country with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Kevin Ramkaloan, CEO of Business Mauritius, added that the budget is broadly in line with the priorities identified by Business Mauritius in view of the urgency of the socio-economic situation: “Among the various measures outlined, those concerning renewable energy and electric vehicles have particularly caught our attention. We believe that they will give a boost to this sector.
Promotion of the circular economy
Business Mauritius then welcomed, in detail, the various measures promoting the transition to a low carbon economy. The increase in the purchase price of electricity by the CEB under the Medium Scale Distributed Generation (MSDG) program was welcomed as well as the establishment of a committee chaired by the Prime Minister to accelerate the implementation of renewable energy projects. However, the organization regrets that the budget makes no mention of the national framework for biomass and the wind power component of the energy roadmap. Business Mauritius also welcomes the government’s promotion of the circular economy by paying a tipping fee to local recyclers. A budgetary proposal of Business Mauritius was also retained and announced by the government, namely the distinction in regulations between two types of expiration dates: the use-by date and the minimum durability date. This should help to reduce food waste.
“This budget has been listening to the different recommendations. Now it’s really about implementation. We need to work together (…) on the medium and long term for in-depth reforms. We believe that this budget has responded to the urgent priorities of the various sectors,” concluded Kevin Ramkaloan.
*Budget presented by the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Renganaden Padayachy.
