Rundheersing Bheenick: 2010 - annus horribilis and coping strategies
Letter by Mr Rundheersing Bheenick, Governor of the Bank of Mauritius, to stakeholders,
Bank of Mauritius, Port Louis, 27 January 2011.
The original speech, which contains various links to the documents mentioned, can be found on the Bank of
Mauritius' website (http://bom.intnet.mu).
* * *
Dear Stakeholders,
1. Labelling 2010 "annus horribilis" does not even begin to do justice to the range and
depth of "nasties" that this fateful year unleashed on us. Impervious to the concerted battery
of policies and measures - many unusual and unconventional - rolled out to combat it, the
global economic crisis raged on and completed its 4th year. The sovereign debt crisis in the
Eurozone periphery which hit the world in April 2010 gave still another dimension to the
global crisis, adding to the woes generated by the US subprime mortgage crisis in 2007, the
British Northern Rock fiasco in 2008, and the global Lehman Brothers debacle in 2009.
Closer to home, the "considerable internal turbulence" that I wrote about in my last Letter to
Stakeholders of 28 January 2010 emerged into a full-blown crisis before the ink was dry.
Within a fortnight, I found myself, as ex-Governor, embattled and embroiled in a very public
Fact Finding Committee while the Bank found itself without a substantive Governor for three
months.
2. As things turned out, my good name was cleared by the Fact Finding Committee
and I was entrusted a second mandate. My position was further comforted by a landmark
judgment from the Supreme Court whose ruling augurs well for good governance at the
Bank. I am therefore delighted to be able to share with you, just as I have been doing for the
past three years, the highlights of the past year, and my own reflections on developments in
the banking sector and the economy at large.
3. Terms like "exceptional" or "extraordinary" have been used to describe the times
which the financial world has been going through. As new challenges keep coming up, the
"extraordinary" seems set to become the "new normal". During most of 2010, the Bank of
Mauritius Tower continued to battle strong headwinds and stormy waves, struggled to keep
the country's financial and monetary affairs in order, and contributed its share to the national
effort to keep the economy on an even keel. At the helm of the Bank, I could feel the weight
of the responsibility and the immensity of the task of steering the institution through these
rough seas to calmer waters. Governing is not an easy job and will never be - these days
Nous sommes tous
central bank Governors are all in it together or as the French would say:
logés à la même enseigne! Fellow-Governors would no doubt understand my plight! The
story goes that King Solomon had tasked a servant with the specific job of whispering to him
constantly - irrespective of whether things were going well or badly - "This too will pass."
Challenging as the current situation may be, we can confidently say that this too will pass
but, when it passes, it is extremely unlikely that we shall revert to the status quo ante.
4. The economy, global or domestic, did not improve much compared to last year.
After some signs of recovery at the end of 2009, the global economy was hit by another
outbreak - the euro debt crisis which brought with it a fresh wave of uncertainty and
heightened risk aversion. Global economic recovery turned out to be slow and uneven.
Unemployment stayed persistently high. Consumer demand in our main export markets
stayed weak. Our small and vulnerable economy continued to suffer from the slowdown in
our main markets; driven by foreign direct investment inflows, our currency appreciated; our
export operators shouted their "misery" at the top of their voice, casting a pall of pessimism
over the business community. Policymakers moved decisively and in concert to take steps to
revitalize the economy.
5. The Bank embarked this year on an unconventional journey and was quite
innovative. When exporters started complaining about exchange rate volatility, we introduced
foreign currency swaps to help exporters mitigate their foreign exchange risk. When we
suspected that the foreign exchange market was not functioning as it should have been, we
initiated a forensic investigation and ended up supplying foreign exchange directly to the
largest domestic buyer of foreign currency. We came up with measures such as Special
Deposits and revised our approach to monetary operations; in addition to the usual
shortterm Bank of Mauritius Bills, we introduced Bank of Mauritius Notes of longer-term maturity to
deal with the unprecedented level of excess liquidity in the system, itself accentuated by a
mis-timed net redemption of Treasury paper. The Monetary Policy Committee boldly slashed
the Key Repo Rate by a full percentage point at the first sign of further slackening of
domestic economic activity expected in Q1 2011. The Bank took the parallel decision to raise
the Cash Reserve Ratio from 5 per cent to 6 per cent. These policy actions were meant to
complement the Economic Restructuring and Competitiveness Programme put in place by
Government to foster and support long-term restructuring and deleveraging of firms in the
export-oriented sectors. Towards the end of the year, the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions)
Act 2010 brought significant changes to the Banking Act 2004 and the Bank of Mauritius Act
2004, which gave the Bank more room for manoeuver.
6. In the press and among other economic commentators, much scepticism was
expressed about the merits of some of our initiatives. Doubts were cast on the likely
effectiveness of our policies. There was unrelenting pressure, beyond the business lobby, to
rejig our exchange rate regime and depreciate the rupee. We maintained a firm and
principled stand, focusing on price stability and its corollary, distributional neutrality. In the
circumstances, our exchange rate regime proved robust - our rupee showed relative stability
in the second half of the year, in contrast with the currency manipulation going on in other
parts of the world. The historically-low inflation rates recorded during the year are another
success story. Our banking sector remained one of the drivers of growth in the economy and,
except for the tenacious excess liquidity, there were no signs of instability in the financial
system. These contributed to lift business sentiment in the country in H2 2010.
7. Let me give a brief overview of the main developments of the past year. As in
previous Letters to Stakeholders, some of the issues are explored in greater detail in the
links at the end of the relevant paragraphs.
8. Economy The Mauritian economy maintained a commendable growth path despite
a challenging external and internal environment. In 2010, the economy grew by 4.2 per cent,
not much below the trend rate and significantly higher than the 3.1 per cent of 2009. The
"Construction", "Hotels and Restaurants", "Transport, Storage and Communications" and
"Financial Intermediation" sectors remained the main drivers of growth. The unemployment
rate barely moved, rising from 7.3 per cent in 2009 to 7.5 per cent in 2010, in sharp contrast
with rising joblessness in many advanced economies. We expect a growth rate of 4.2 per
cent in 2011. This would depend on recovery in our main trading partners but could be faster
if we succeed in reducing our export-dependence on slow-growing traditional partners. The
time is ripe to develop a new economic model for Mauritius, more resilient to future shocks,
and able to provide a firmer foundation for sustainable growth.
9. Monetary Policy Over the past year or so, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
attained its cruising speed. The inclusion of two distinguished foreigners as members of the
MPC brought an international perspective and provided additional insights to enrich the
deliberations of the Committee. Decisions were taken most of the time either by consensus
or by unanimity, reflecting the growing maturity of the MPC while avoiding group-think. MPC
members are functioning as one entity. This enabled the MPC to maintain a stable monetary
policy stance for 18 months. Thus the Bank achieved with success its mandate of
maintaining price stability. We brought down the headline inflation rate from 8.5 per cent in
March 2009 to 2.3 per cent in January 2010, the period over which the Key Repo Rate (KRR)
had been kept on hold at 5.75 per cent. We succeeded in containing inflation below 3 per
cent until November 2010, with an expected surge in December in the wake of rising
commodity prices.
10. At its September 2010 meeting, after weighing the risks to the growth and inflation
outlook over the policy-relevant horizon, the MPC decided unanimously to cut the KRR by
100 basis points to support domestic recovery. We were swimming against the tide as many
emerging country Central Banks had already started monetary tightening while others were
on hold. The MPC left the policy rate unchanged at its last meeting of the year in December.
The significant monetary easing provided additional support to the on-going economic
restructuring and gave exporters of goods and services breathing space to embark on a
major drive to improve productivity, diversify products and markets, and enhance national
competitiveness.
11. Monetary policy formulation is a task that requires constant upgrading of skills and
knowledge to stay ahead of the curve. This year, with technical assistance from the IMF, we
embarked on the development of a macroeconomic model to provide greater consistency in
policy advice and risk analysis, and help in the process of monetary policy decision-making.
After three years of operating experience, the MPC is ripe for a review of its composition,
methods and procedures. As the year ended, we were finalising details for hiring an
independent consultant to carry out this exercise. I have no doubt that the review would lead
to a stronger and more transparent MPC, with greater focus on the real economy and its
intricacies, and clarify the role of the central bank in preserving macroeconomic and financial
stability.
12. Financial and Money Market Excess liquidity continued to plague the banking
system during the year. The resulting aggressive bidding for Treasuries drove short-term
yields to all time-lows, accentuating the disconnect with the KRR. Two reasons can account
for this unprecedented level of excess liquidity: (i) the substantial net redemption of
Government securities and (ii) the slowdown in the pace of credit growth in the wake of
slackening economic activity.
13. To contain the growing level of excess reserves, we revisited our approach to
monetary operations with the introduction of new longer-term Bank of Mauritius instruments.
In August and September 2010, we issued Bank of Mauritius Bills with maturities of 91-Day,
182-Day and 364-Day and Bank of Mauritius Notes of 2-Year, 3-Year and 4-Year maturities.
Furthermore, we increased the Cash Reserve Ratio on two occasions, from 4.50 per cent to
5.00 per cent in mid-June 2010, and to 6.00 per cent in October 2010. With the
implementation of these measures, banks' excess reserves briefly returned to normal levels.
They started increasing again in December.
14. Domestic Foreign Exchange Market Towards the end of 2009, the volume of
transactions on the domestic spot foreign exchange market declined, causing some volatility
in the market. We viewed the situation as being exceptional enough to warrant our
intervention to maintain orderly conditions in the market. This led the Bank to devise foreign
currency swaps facilities tailor-made for the needs of the export-oriented sectors, to inject
liquidity in the market, thereby avoiding the build-up of uncertainty in the system and
hampering economic activity.
15. With the introduction of the foreign currency swaps facility, activities in the foreign
exchange market rapidly returned to normal and liquidity conditions remained comfortable
throughout the year. The notable exception was the unwarranted volatility and nervousness
observed in May 2010. Suspecting currency manipulation on transactions during the period
14 to 26 May 2010, we considered it vital to thoroughly investigate the matter. We retained
the services of a forensic expert to probe into potential foreign exchange market irregularities
and manipulation that could have taken place in the domestic foreign exchange market.
16. Euro weakness The Euro crisis was in full swing when I started my second
mandate in late May 2010 and, as mentioned earlier, export sector operators and business
lobbies shrieked about the threats of a weak euro to their business. I immediately set about
calming the market and held a series of meetings with businesses and their associations as
well as with consumer representatives, including the Mauritius Export Association, the Joint
Economic Council, the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Association des
Consommateurs de l'Ile Maurice and the Institute for Consumer Protection. There were
strong calls, relayed by the media, for the Bank to engineer an immediate depreciation of the
rupee "before it was too late" - in the words of an influential leader-writer - or, worse to peg
our rupee to the euro, failing which, it was claimed, there would be massive layoffs
accompanied by a hollowing-out of our industrial fabric. Never before has vested interest
masqueraded so brazenly as the public interest. We stood firm on our stand that a
CentralBank-engineered fall in the value of the rupee could provide some immediate benefit to
certain sectors but this would be at the detriment of the wider economy and against the
country's longer-term interest. We were severely criticised in many quarters, especially the
business press, but, with hindsight, it is easier to appreciate the stand that we took.
17. A corollary to the rupee appreciation against the euro and depreciation against the
US dollar in the early months of 2010 was the worsening of the excess demand for foreign
currencies - importers, looking for dollars, were keen to purchase foreign currency and
exporters, with export earnings mostly in euros, more inclined to stay on the sideline. At the
request of the State Trading Corporation which encountered difficulties to obtain foreign
currency from the market to meet the import bill for food staples and fuel, the Bank agreed to
meet its foreign exchange requirements as from June 2010 through direct sales. In parallel,
we purchased the foreign exchange from the market itself with a view to retaining a neutral
position and preventing a build-up of supply pressures. Faced with unprecedented currency
volatility, we began intervening in the forex market in mid-July 2010, after an unbroken spell
of 85 weeks since November 2008 when prevailing conditions did not warrant intervention.
We ended the year with a net purchase of foreign currency of USD315.6 million.
18. Throughout 2010, we maintained the foreign currency swaps facility that we had
introduced in December 2009 but its range was extended to include swaps of shorter periods
from one to three months. We continued to make available to banks the Special Foreign
Currency Line of Credit, aggregating USD125 million, which we had introduced in December
2008 for the financing of the country's trade when domestic banks faced unusual conditions
and could not rely on traditional trade lines from their correspondent banks overseas.
19. As a result of our actions and initiatives during the year to ensure orderly conditions
on the market, we observed some normalisation in the Domestic Foreign Exchange Market
which recorded a total turnover of foreign exchange transactions that was slightly higher than
that of last year. More importantly, we have been able to contain the volatility of the rupee
exchange rate with the nominal effective exchange rate indices, MERI1 and MERI2,
remaining quite stable and moving rather close to their trend level throughout the year.
20. Despite the turbulent times, the Bank has succeeded
Reserves Management
against all odds in maintaining a comfortable level of reserves. Our earlier fears that we
might find ourselves in the grip of the sudden stop syndrome, and begin to lose reserves,
proved unfounded. In December 2010, the gross external reserves of the Bank exceeded
Rs78 billion while net international reserves crossed the Rs106-billion mark, representing
around 44 weeks of imports. Our gold holdings amounted to around Rs4.9 billion as at
31 December 2010.
21. In my previous Letters to Stakeholders, I had mentioned the consultations which I
had initiated with the Sovereign Investments Partnership (SIP) Department of the World
Bank, and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), since 2008. We were driven by the
need to enhance the returns on our foreign exchange reserves which had witnessed a
drastic fall in the low-interest-rate environment. We successfully concluded these
consultations and, on behalf of the Bank, I signed an Investment Management and
Consulting Agreement with the Vice President and Treasurer of the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development in Washington DC in October 2010, with the objective of
diversifying our portfolio into new asset classes. We thus joined the nearly three dozen
central banks and a dozen other international financial institutions that have chosen to
entrust the management of some of their reserves to SIP, which currently manages around
90 billion dollars of assets. A second reserve manager, and one which is so big in terms of its
placing power and reserves under management, will ensure competition in the management
of our growing reserves which, until then, had been entrusted to the BIS only. We also
signed an Agreement with the BIS for the management of a euro portfolio in addition to our
existing US dollar and Pound Sterling portfolios.
22. As far back as 2007, when we were faced with significant Foreign Direct Investment
inflows, I had mooted the idea of setting up a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF). Then, as now,
we also had to grapple with the excessive focus of the National Pension Fund (NPF) on
rupee instruments, with a consequential negative pressure on domestic rates. The SWF was
envisaged as a vehicle to harness the resources of the NPF together with the "excess"
reserves of the Central Bank - for which the Bank could have a bigger risk appetite than for
its core reserves that it must manage conservatively - , supported by some investments from
Government-linked institutions and the central Government itself. The whole fund would be
managed under the aegis of the Central Bank and would still qualify as reserves in the IMF
definition. That was our vision of a SWF through which we hoped to achieve several
favourable outcomes simultaneously - to enhance our returns on our foreign exchange
reserves, diversify the portfolio of partner institutions, and relieve pressure on Treasury rupee
instruments. We welcome the announcement of the creation of the SWF in the 2011 Budget
Speech. Prior to the setting up of the fund, there would be consultations with experts in the
field to advise us on the model that would best suit our needs.
23. Stimulus Package Following consultations with Government and other
stakeholders, the Bank made available to Small and Medium Hotels, and Small and Medium
Planters two Special Lines of Credit of Rs1.5 billion and Rs0.5 billion respectively, to support
these sectors in the wake of the euro crisis. This measure was announced as the Bank's
contribution to the Economic Restructuring and Competitiveness Programme.
24. Debt Management Our priority over the recent years has been the lengthening of
the maturity profile of Government debt and the development of an active secondary market
for Government securities. The latter would enable price discovery and the development of a
yield curve which could be used as a reference for pricing other fixed-income securities, thus
paving the way for the development of corporate bonds. Our ultimate objective is to broaden
and deepen our financial markets. We thus came up with a series of measures ranging from
auctions of single-maturity instruments and the issue of 10-year and 15-year benchmark
bonds. We also issued an index-linked bond to diversify the Government debt portfolio and to
extend the range of investment opportunities for investors.
25. We continued work on modernising the conduct of auctions of public paper. The
process of on-line auctioning of Treasury Bills, which now relies on a web-based solution, will
switch to live mode in 2011. This will result in reduced time for submission, processing and
settlement of bids. We shall extend this to the auctions of Treasury Notes and Government
Bonds at a later stage.
26. Market Development Since I first joined the Bank as Governor, I have endeavoured
to create conditions conducive to the development of a liquid and vibrant money and foreign
exchange market. Although we recognise that this is no easy task, given the small size of our
market and the limited number of players, we have taken a number of steps in that direction.
We worked closely with a Sub-Committee of the Mauritius Bankers Association on Capital
Market Development to review the current setup of the Primary Dealer System and identify
measures to boost secondary market trading. We have developed a reference money market
rate, to be known as the PLIBOR - Port Louis Inter Bank Offered Rate - which will be used
as a benchmark for both money and foreign exchange transactions, including derivatives
transactions.
27. We welcomed a new player in our financial markets, the Global Board of Trade
(GBOT), which was launched in October 2010. GBOT is the first international multiasset
class tech-centric exchange that offers a basket of commodity and currency derivative
products as well as currency pairs. GBOT started with brisk business in its very first days of
trading. We expect that the launch of GBOT will stimulate the forward markets in currencies.
One word of caution to those who might be tempted to use this platform for rupee
speculation - the Bank is closely monitoring developments in this area.
28. Bank's Balance Sheet The capacity of the Bank to conduct open-market
operations to absorb excess liquidity is constrained by the low return on our foreign assets
resulting from the successive cuts in interest rates by major central banks where our
reserves are mainly invested. The significant decrease in income on our foreign assets
impacted negatively on the Bank's profitability. Thus during FY 2009/10, the Bank's operating
profit decreased to Rs72 million from Rs1.4 billion in the previous year.
29. Although profitability and profit-maximisation per se do not figure among the Bank's
objectives and, rightly, are not the focus of our attention, we need a central bank with a
strong balance sheet at the apex of our financial system so that we are always in a position
to play our role in safeguarding and upholding the public interest. Central banks are
increasingly perceived as independent guardians of stability - we are conscious of the
heightened expectation and trust that central banks inspire in the public. In addition to the
search for yield via portfolio diversification and re-visiting our risk-return stance which I
mentioned before, we need to envisage other measures to strengthen our balance sheet.
30. Banking Sector Performance Our banking sector continued to be resilient and
strong. In year-on-year terms, total assets of banks registered a growth of 13.4 per cent and
credit to the private sector increased by 10.9 per cent as at end Q3 2010. Segment A
(domestic) assets grew by 7.5 per cent while Segment B (offshore) assets grew by 17.3 per
cent. Domestic credit expanded by 11.2 per cent while Segment B credit facilities grew by
19.6 per cent. Deposits remained the major source of funding for banks, accounting for
73 per cent of total resources. Between September 2009 and September 2010, their total
deposits grew by 14 per cent. Our banks recorded a slight decline in their level of profits but
nonetheless remained quite profitable, with a Return on Assets of 1.2 per cent as at end Q3
2010, compared to 1.7 per cent for the corresponding period in the previous year.
31. The performance of Non-Bank Deposit Taking Institutions (NBDTIs) did not evolve
much. A notional decline of one per cent in total assets was registered over the 12-month
period ending September 2010 as a result of the migration of assets held by two leasing
companies to the banking sector. To achieve regulatory convergence, there is now a
requirement for NBDTIs to move over to a system of Capital Adequacy Ratio as the indicator
of financial strength. In line with the provisions of the Banking Act 2004, ABC Leasing
Company Ltd was the first NBDTI to graduate to a full bank - ABC Banking Corporation was
licensed on 1 June 2010. With the coming into operation of this bank, there are now
19 banks operating in Mauritius.
32. Regulation and Supervision We sharpened and streamlined our approach to the
supervision of banks and other financial institutions falling under our purview and remained
vigilant throughout 2010. We followed closely developments in international accounting and
supervisory standards and issued new guidelines to the industry to ensure that our banking
industry follows international best practices.
33. Our onsite and offsite monitoring was strengthened further. We made our CAMEL
rating more dynamic and broad-based. In consultation with the banking sector, we finalised
plans to make the CAMEL rating of banks public as from Q1 2011. Given that many of our
domestic banks are not rated, we take the view that the publication of the CAMEL rating will
help to plug a vital information gap. In this area also, we are taking an unconventional step -
it is not common for such ratings to be placed in the public domain. I must compliment our
bankers for their sagacity in agreeing to go along with us on this front.
34. The reforms undertaken by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS),
which were agreed by the Governors and Heads of Supervision and endorsed by the G20
leaders, culminated in the issue of new global regulatory standards, the Basel III framework.
According to Nout Wellink, Chairman of the BCBS, Basel III, which prescribes higher levels
of capital adequacy and incorporates a global liquidity framework, will reduce significantly the
probability and severity of banking crises in future, protect financial stability and promote
sustainable economic growth. The overall capital adequacy ratio of our banks was around
16 per cent on average under Basel II - higher than the minimum required. We do not
foresee any major problem for our banks to attain the revised capital adequacy requirements
of Basel III.
35. Islamic Banking As indicated previously, we granted our first Islamic banking
licence in the Mauritian jurisdiction in October 2009 which was a major step in translating the
vision of the Authorities to provide an alternative mode of financial intermediation, thus
enhancing the options available to bank customers. We expect the bank to be operational by
the end of Q1 2011.
36. We have taken some decisive steps forward in our quest to make Mauritius a centre of
high quality Sharia-compliant financial services. First, building on our membership of the
Islamic Financial Services Board, we participated actively in the preparatory work and
became a founder member of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation
(IILM) - a Supranational body created to issue bench mark Islamic liquidity instruments -
launched during the year and headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This gives us
membership on the Governing Board of IILM for a period of ten years and access to
Shariacompliant financial instruments for better liquidity management. Second, the Bank entered
into a Memorandum of Understanding with Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank of
Malaysia, which inter alia envisages support for building skills. We intend to use this support
to sharpen our regulatory and supervisory oversight of Islamic banks in Mauritius.
37. Payments Systems The modernisation of the payments system has been on the
cards since 2007 but, like many other significant projects at the Bank, got unfortunately
entangled with protracted procurement difficulties arising from the Boardroom squabble
referred to earlier. With these hurdles cleared, the Bank will soon be equipped with a
stateof-the art payments system, a model for the region, which would serve as a platform to
implement a series of innovative projects such as the Bulk Clearing System and the Cheque
Truncation System. Already, the new software for the Mauritius Automated Clearing and
Settlement System, which we commissioned during the year, allows us to provide extended
multi currency services - a première in Africa.
38. Central Bank Statistics We directed our efforts towards improving the quality,
coverage and timeliness of banking statistics as part of our contribution to the IMF's Special
Data Dissemination Standards. We made ourselves more visible in the international
statistical community by our admission to full institutional membership in the prestigious
Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics in February 2010 and by participating,
along with the Central Statistics Office, in marking the 1st World Statistics Day. The World
Statistics Day is celebrated across the globe in recognition of the importance of official
statistics and of the core values of service, integrity and professionalism in providing those
statistics. As providers of data on banking, money, finance and international trade, we
subscribe fully to these values.
39. Mauritius Credit Information Bureau The Mauritius Credit Information Bureau
(MCIB) has proved to be an efficient platform for critical information-sharing to enhance
borrower discipline and proper risk management by lenders. We extended the scope of the
MCIB to other credit providers outside the banking sector and we are currently envisaging
the inclusion of new products in the MCIB database.
40. Deposit Insurance Scheme The Bank is considering the establishment of a
Deposit Insurance Scheme (DIS) as an additional safety-net for the banking sector. Two
factors would facilitate the implementation of the DIS in Mauritius: first the Banking Act 2004
already provides for the establishment of the DIS and, second, the local financial
environment is dominated by banks. A working group has been set up at the Bank to look
into the development of a DIS framework for Mauritius. The Bank is endeavouring to secure
participation in the International Association of Deposit Insurers as an Associate in order to
be able to draw on professional advice and capacity-building technical assistance in this
area.
41. Regional and International Presence We continued to mark our presence on the
regional and international front. My Deputy Governors and I attended various meetings both
in the region and further, and we ensured that the Bank was duly represented in regional and
international fora when our own commitments did not allow us to be away from the Bank. In
addition, we hosted and facilitated a number of regional and international meetings which
improved the Bank's visibility further. A sure sign of the growing interest of global financial
players in our jurisdiction was the visit of a delegation from the Industrial and Commercial
Bank of China - the largest commercial bank in China. This was the second time that a
delegation of bankers from China visited the Bank - the first delegation came from China
Development Bank.
42. The office of AFRITAC (South), one of the two new African Technical Assistance
Centres which the IMF is establishing in Africa, will be temporarily located on the 15th Floor
of the Bank of Mauritius Tower until we manage to complete the renovation of the old
building - this was another project that fell victim in the prolonged Boardroom battle - where
AFRITAC will have a dedicated floor. This office will also increase our visibility at both the
regional and international front.
43. Overseas Missions As in the preceding years, I am providing details of the
overseas engagements of the Governor and the Deputy Governors.
44. COMESA Committee of Central Bank Governors We had the pleasure to host the
31st Meeting of the Bureau of the COMESA Committee of Governors of Central Banks in
August 2010. At the regular meeting of the COMESA Committee of Central Bank Governors
held in Mauritius, it was decided that cen