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Budget 2017/18: Infrastructure driven and export led growth
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Budget 2017/18: Infrastructure driven and export led growth
This is the second time in our history that we have a Prime Minister combining the portfolio of Finance Minister and Honorable Pravind Jugnauth is presenting his fifth budget. The economy has somewhat been in better shape than it has been over the past years with a growth of 3.9% in 2017 and a subdued forecast of 4.1% for 2018.
The Prime Minister and Minister of Finance has presented the third budget of his government with a resolve to power growth through investments in infrastructure which will sustain the economic development. These investments will straddle more than one financial year and will change the shape of the country as enhanced road and transport improvements will be a game changer to improve competitiveness. It is logical that financing such projects will imbalance the current state of affairs, hence the loan from India.
The challenge over the years has been to steer the ship clear in the face of adverse external head winds. The economic conditions have generally improved with our main traditional markets doing rather well compared to previous years. This scenario has also helped our small island export led economy. The exchange rate, price of oil and low interest rate have more or less stabilized, thereby removing the risk of external shocks.
The vision of late has been economic diversification and transformation. It is refreshing to note that we are on the right track with all the main sectors posting positive growth, namely: Tourism, Financial Services, Agro, Textiles and ICT.
Regarding the transformation, the challenge has been job creations and the jury is still out on this one as it remains work in progress. Our concern is that we may be treading on the path of jobless growth.
A lot of the measures announced are long term in nature and will straddle more than one financial year in terms of implementation which will make its monitoring less tangible but the challenge of creating jobs in the short term remains, the more so that it is directly linked with the feel-good factor, an indicator which is so important yet not measurable by hard numbers.
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