The Bank of Mauritius has reported a comprehensive loss of Rs5.5billion in May 2022, according to its monthly financial statement published on its website on August 1.
The losses are said to be linked to the Central bank’s investments abroad – which totalled Rs134billion.
The financial statement was published after two months but the latest one reportedly contained figures for May and June. Figures for March and April were not published.
The Central Bank’s assets rose from Rs420.34billion in May to Rs455.16billion.
Capita and reserves amounts to Rs12.51billion of which Rs2.51billion are in June’s Special Reserve Fund, down by Rs540million from Rs3.05billion in May.
In May, total liabilities rose from Rs412.8billion to Rs442.65billion – a negative equity of Rs7.5billion. This amount, according to l’Express, was lower that the Rs10 billion threshold required by the BoM Act to maintain its financial position.
Former BoM executive Sameer Sharma cited the recent Article IV Consultations report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to tell l’Express that the level of BOM reserves was directly linked to the evolution of the rupee against the US dollar.
“On analysis of the Central Bank’s reserves over the past 12 months, it is clear that it was driven by foreign borrowing coupled with foreign currency deposits from commercial banks. The BoM has included them in its international reserves figures.” He criticised the non publication of the statements for March and April.
Commenting on these data, Opposition Leader Xavier-Luc Duval told Defi Media that the non-publication of the statement for three months went against section 32 of the Bank of Mauritius Act.
He recently asked Parliament to take action against the directors and the governor of the BoM, who did not respect their own law.”
