Mauritius’ Public Debt Swells to Rs 524.7 Billion

According to data released by the Ministry of Finance, the country’s public debt has risen to Rs 524.7 billion as of March 31, a significant increase of Rs 12.6 billion from the end of September last year.

The majority of the debt is attributed to Government Securities, which amount to Rs 392.4 billion, broken down into:

• Rs 162.7 billion in Long Term Bonds
• Rs 112.7 billion in Five-Year and Seven-Year GoM Bonds
• Rs 70.7 billion in Treasury Notes
• Rs 46.3 billion in Government Securities

Meanwhile, the country’s foreign debt has increased by Rs 6 billion, reaching Rs 85.5 billion by the end of March this year.

This growth is expected to continue following the recent announcement by the Executive Council of the Regional Assembly of Rodrigues that it has signed a loan agreement with the World Bank worth over Rs 6 billion for the modernization of the Plaine-Corail regional airport.

The public debt of state-owned enterprises has also risen to Rs 60 billion for this fiscal year, with Rs 30.8 billion owed locally and Rs 30.4 billion owed internationally. The most indebted parastatal bodies on the local front are:

• Central Electricity Board (Rs 6.8 billion)
• Development Bank (Rs 4.2 billion)
• State Trading Corporation (Rs 3.2 billion)
• Airport Terminal Operations Ltd (Rs 3.2 billion)
• State Investment Corporation (Rs 1.7 billion)

The external debt of Rs 30 billion is mainly composed of transactions carried out by the SBM (Mauritius) Infrastructure Development Company Ltd, with more than 50% or Rs 17.7 billion coming from a line of credit provided by India for Metro-Express and social housing projects.

Other notable external debtors include MauBank Holdings Ltd (Rs 4.7 billion), Central Electricity Board (Rs 3.2 billion), Mauritius Telecom (Rs 3.5 billion), and Airports of Mauritius Co. Ltd (Rs 1.2 million).

Source: Le Mauricien