The 6th meeting of the Public-Private Joint Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. the Hon. Renganaden Padayachy, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development saw the participation of around 50 representatives of the private sector in the presence of the Chairman of EDB, Mr. Hemraj Ramnial, CSK, the Vice-Chairman of EDB, Mr. Issa Soormally and the Chief Executive Officer of the EDB, Mr. Ken Poonoosamy.
Business leaders, industry captains, representatives of industry associations, operators of the private sector as well as officials of the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development and the Economic Development Board participated in the event.
This collaborative platform, which is an initiative of the EDB in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, allowing public and private stakeholders exchange views, is an important enabler for government and private sector to work together to find suitable policy responses to the socio-economic challenges posed by the current and future economic conjecture and chart the way for our economy to get back into the league of high-income economies.
In his address, Dr. the Hon. Renganaden Padayachy, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development emphasised the significance of the continuous dialogue with private sector to timely identify major obstacles and come up with appropriate solutions to these obstacles. He recalled that the government is keen to address the major hurdles faced by the private sectors including increasing cost of production, elevated inflation, volatile exchange rate and labour shortages.
He further elaborated that despite all the difficulties, the Mauritian economy has been able to outperform initial previsions, and that economic sectors have gained momentum post covid.
He further added that while institutions are now forecasting at least a 5 percent growth for 2023, public and private sectors must work together to aim a higher growth for the Mauritian economy.
In his welcome address, the CEO of EDB, Mr. Ken Poonoosamy underscored the enduring participation of private stakeholders in the Public Private Joint Committee which demonstrates the importance of this forum for our economy. He also underlined that the performance of the Mauritian economy has defied international trends and is well embarked on an upward trajectory, supported by the timely and effective measures put in place by the Government to reverse the adverse impact of the pandemic and the rising costs of living.
Mr. Eric Ng Ping Cheung of PluriConseil also made a presentation on the Mauritian economy. He highlighted that exports of goods and services as well as investment are on an upward trend, highlighting the renewed dynamism in the economy. He concluded that the Statistics Mauritius is forecasting the Mauritian GDP to grow by 5% while international institutions are predicting higher growth with World Bank estimating our GDP to grow at 5.5% and International Monetary Fund predicting a 5.6% growth in GDP.
It should be emphasised that the Public Private Joint Committee meets on a quarterly basis with Mauritian business leaders discussing on matters of economic importance.
