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The launching of the Mauritius SDG investor map, on the 6^th December 2022, has marked a major milestone in the relationship between Mauritius and the United Nations; an already strong bond that started on the 24^th of April 1968, roughly a month after independence.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) took shape to address and thereby provide a blueprint to achieve ‘a better and more sustainable future for all’. Broadly, the SDGs tackle the major challenges we face as a globe today, including poverty, inequality, climate change and environmental degradation, and seek to achieve major changes by 2030.

Consequently, the Mauritius SDG Investor Map, being a market intelligence tool, comes as a confluence of the different pillars needed to sustain the unfurling of the SDGs in a practical and efficient manner in the local context. Being imbibed with the spirit of the Strategic Partnership Frameworks 2019-2023 initiated by the Republic of Mauritius and the United Nations, the investor map will serve to direct private capital to emerging markets. 17 opportunity areas across six sectors, namely, renewable resources and alternative energy, Infrastructure, services, education, health care, food and beverages, have been established by the SDG investor map.

More precisely, the Mauritius SDG investor map seeks to channelize capital where it can produce the maximum positive impact on people and the planet while ensuring that financial profitability is not jeopardized. It highlights Investment Opportunity Areas in line with national
development needs and priorities.

It informs where the private sector could provide solutions to developmental needs by presenting data driven, evidence-based concrete recommendations on viable business models. The business models contain considerable potential to advance the Mauritius’ Vision 2030 by allowing the private sector a major role in economic development, strongly based on principles of inclusivity and sustainability.

On a micro level, the United Nations Global Compact launched its regional branch, Global Compact Network for Mauritius and Indian Ocean region in 2020 which includes Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros, to allow participating companies to align and contribute to advancing SDGs in a practical manner by committing to the ten principles of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Commitment to the UNGC ensures that strategies, operations and good practices by companies are holistically aligned to contribute to sustainable development.

As a signatory to the UNGC since 2020, ITL has been quite proactive in our efforts towards ensuring the company’s direction & decision is aligned to the SDGs and the guidelines from UN. You may wish to read more about ITL being a signatory to the UNGC here

To learn more about the sustainable investment opportunities and the SDG investor map, please visit the SDG Investor Platform

ITL will be happy to accompany you through this journey, you may wish to send us an email on info@intercontinentaltrust.com

Following the completion of ratification procedures, the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between Mauritius and Hong Kong has been signed on 7 November 2022. This DTAA which is compliant with the OECD and UN Model Agreements on Avoidance of Double Taxation, further complies with the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) recommendations and will seek to:

a. Encourage investment flows between the countries by creating an environment more conducive to cross border transactions;

b. Provide greater tax certainty to investors; and

c. Improve bilateral cooperation by facilitating exchange of information between tax authorities of Mauritius and Hong Kong

Should you wish to access more information on the Mauritius-Hong-Kong DTAA, click here

In line with its vision to boost wealth management prospects within the financial services sector, and as part of its ongoing strategy to enhance the competitiveness and innovation of the Mauritius IFC, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) has introduced the Insurance (Structured Investment Linked Insurance Business) Rules 2022, effective since 3 September 2022.

We recall the amendments brought to the Insurance Act on 2 August 2022 to introduce a fifth class of business pertaining to Structured Investment-Linked Insurance Business (commonly known as ‘Insurance Wrappers’).

The Insurance Regulations 2007 were further amended to exempt the structured investment-linked policies, as is the case for an external insurer, from the provisions in Regulation 7(1), which provides that an insurer:

a. shall at all times keep invested in Mauritius an amount of at least 50 percent; and

b. may invest outside Mauritius an amount not exceeding 50 percent, of its technical provisions in respect of insurance business in Mauritius.

For more information, access the official communique from the FSC here

The Economic Development Board (EDB) is set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Eastern Africa Association with a view to increasing the prospects of investors and corporations forming part of this association to use Mauritius as the platform for investment into the eastern African region.

The MoU has the following main objectives:

a. establishing a practical framework for cooperation and collaboration with regard to investment, trade promotion and facilitation;

b. maintaining a continuous working relationship for the promotion of the partnership between both parties; and

c. strengthening institutional relations and identifying areas of comparative advantage, competence and complementarity.

Mauritius is set to sign a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with the Republic of Angola. This DTAA which is currently awaiting ratification will aim to inter alia:

a. provide tax certainty to investors of the two countries in their dealings with Mauritius or Angola, as the case may be;

b. provide mechanisms to –

i. combat tax evasion and other malpractices through collaboration between the two authorities in terms of exchange of information and lending assistance to each other for the collection of tax due to the concerned tax authority; and

ii. resolve tax disputes that may arise, through a mutual agreement procedure; and

c. create a conducive environment for greater investment flows from the Mauritian global business sector to Angola, by providing tax incentives.

In an effort to bridge a trade collaboration gap between Mauritius and Iran, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed between the Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Trade Promotion Organisation (TPO) of Iran. This MoU will not only aid in consolidating the EDB’s market development and diversification strategies, but also encourage cooperation across various areas such as:

a. investment promotion in export-oriented manufacturing, light engineering, agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, freeport and logistics, ICT, construction, hospitality, education and film industry, amongst others;

b. trade promotion with focus on exploring the Islamic Republic of Iran as a potential export market for made in Mauritius products such as textile and apparel, special sugars, processed foods, medical devices and jewellery,
amongst others; and

c. encouraging Iranian companies to use Mauritius for manufacture of consumer goods for exports and benefit from preferential market access, mainly to Southern and Eastern Africa.

On 4 November 2022, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Mauritius (BoM) announced its decision to raise the Key Repo Rate (KRR) by 75 basis points to 4.00% per annum following the recent decisions by the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Bank of England to sharply raise their policy rates.

The BoM states maintaining inflation below a double-digit figure at 9.5% for 2022 as the main reason for this hike and envisions inflation to range between 5-6% for 2023. Real GDP growth is further forecast at above 7% for 2022 and 5% for 2023.

The MPC continues to monitor the situation closely and will meet in December to review the economic situation. We will endeavour to provide you with further updates, should there be any, on the KRR.

Access the full communique from the BoM here

The gala dinner for the World Travel Awards (WTA) 2022 was held in Kenya on 15 October 2022, during which Mauritius was crowned ‘Indian Ocean’s Leading Adventure Tourism Destination’, ‘Indian Ocean’s Leading Wedding Destination’ and ‘Indian Ocean’s Leading Sustainable Tourism Destination’ – thus propelling the country to be the most coveted across the region.

The country’s national carrier, Air Mauritius, was also awarded ‘Leading Airline Brand’ and ‘Leading Airline – Economy Class’ in the Indian Ocean region.

The WTA sets out to acknowledge outstanding accomplishment across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries and is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence.

These rewards demonstrate the remarkable resilience of our tourism industry in the face of adversity and the effort deployed by local authorities in implementing long term projects – namely (1) the launch of #MauritiusNow, an interactive digital campaign geared towards showcasing the island’s natural beauty and (2) the introduction of the Premium Visa, which gives foreigners the opportunity to reside and work in the country, for a one-year period which can be renewed thereafter – with a view to increasing tourism demand to Mauritius.

Read the full release here

The fDi Intelligence magazine released its much-awaited 2022 Global Free Zones of the Year Awards on 3 October. Known as the world’s leader in monitoring development in foreign direct investment (FDI) across global free zones, this year, fDi Intelligence received 67 entries.

Mauritius fared well globally and features among the top 10 most performing freezones in 2022. As was the case in last year’s ranking, the country retains the top spot in the Africa region, owing to improved and sustained investment levels – indeed, overall investment has reached nearly $250m through 2025, and projects for the year 2022-23 expected to reach $50m.

The local freeport’s activities are currently undergoing a shift from logistics-based ones to those more focused on servicing exports in the Indian Ocean and sub-Saharan Africa. Coupled with its newly devised ESG framework, as well as the Economic Development Board (EDB) streamlining the procedures for the issuance of freeport certificates, Mauritius has proven its worth as the most promising free zone in the region.

Access the full list of rankings from FDI Intelligence here

On 29 September 2022, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) came out with the Global Innovation Index (GII) for the year 2022. Deeply rooted in its quest to bring to light the most innovative economies in the world, this year, the GII highlights the global innovation trends amid an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, stalled growth in productivity and other challenges.

Mauritius leads the Sub-Saharan region and the overall African continent, where the country boasts remarkable performance across multiple factors, namely Institutions (22^nd), Infrastructure (70^th), Market sophistication (16^th) and Creative outputs (31^st).

With a score of 34.4, Mauritius takes the 45^th spot globally after earning notable ranking across the following innovation pillars:

a. Trademarks (15^th);

b. ICT services imports (20^th); and

c. New businesses (20^th)

The country further demonstrated its potential to upturn the global innovation landscape by placing 6^th on the ranking for middle-income economies and by being the only country to show improvement from last year’s report.

The GII, a leading reference for measuring an economy’s innovation performance, provides detailed metrics of 132 countries and economies around the world. For a more comprehensive breakdown of the report, access it here