yandraduth googoolye : small and medium - sized enterprises in mauritius address by mr yandraduth googoolye, first deputy governor of the bank of mauritius, on the occasion of the signing of an agreement for a line of credit to the mauritius leasing company limited by the european investment bank for sme financing, caudan, 19 december 2011. * * * ladies and gentlemen it is a great honour for me to be among you for this memorable event and i welcome this opportunity to address this forum on a subject that has been much talked about lately, both at the national and international level. smes have played a key role in providing the necessary impetus to the advancement of some of the world ’ s economies like the united states, china, japan, taiwan, korea, hong kong as well as many countries in europe. ninety - nine per cent of all european businesses are in fact smes. they provide 2 out of 3 of the private sector jobs and contribute to more than half of the total value added created by businesses in the european union. in some countries, such as the uk, governments have entered into an agreement with major banks to determine how much they will lend to smes. in south africa, smes are said to contribute 40 % of gdp and 40 % of employment opportunities. there are currently over 100 million smes in africa and this figure is deemed to grow even more. india and countries in south america have been concentrating their efforts in developing the sme sector. in developing countries, smes serve as a useful bridge between the informal economy of family enterprises and the formalised corporate sector. as such, most policymakers deem the health of the sme sector to be highly important for an economy mauritius is not an exception to this. i believe that smes are critical for our future economic prosperity given that it has been placed on the national agenda by the government. indeed, the government of mauritius has endeavoured to bolster the sme sector by providing various incentives, including industrial space and special grants amongst other measures. some of the former smes are now big players in the mauritian corporate landscape. a survey conducted by statistics mauritius in 2007 revealed that there were around 92, 000 smes which provided employment to some 209, 000 individuals. these numbers are estimated to have reached 94, 000 and 250, 000, respectively, in 2010. sme jobs represent around 46 % of total employment in the economy and are mainly concentrated in

are busy advancing this agenda. in monetary co - operation in comesa, we have the pta bank, the pta reinsurance company, the african trade insurance agency and the african commerce exchange which are all very much involved. among the new institutions, i am pleased to see that the comesa fund will soon be up and running with its two windows, the adjustment facility and the comesa infrastructure fund, based here in mauritius. the first window addresses the problems related to liberalization of the economies of member - states while the second window addresses infrastructural problems of the region. out of the eu allocation of €78 million, a sum of €5 million has already been disbursed. the pilot aid - for - trade programme for the north / south corridor has mobilized nearly us $ 3 billion, with a further programme planned for the rest of the comesa region. we have every reason to believe that the comesa fund will hit the ground running! so, with all this ferment of activity, it is difficult not to get excited about the continent. africa is moving on, so move over in front, you are blocking the way, we are now in the fast track. for our meeting this morning we have before us a wide - ranging and important agenda. let me just single out six key points that i believe will provide a focus for our discussions and give a real added boost in our exciting journey towards economic integration. we shall • first, review the choice of monetary policy regimes and we shall be guided by the distinguished governor of the central bank of kenya, prof ndung ’ u. • second, listen to a presentation by the international expert gavin bingham of the bank for international settlements on issues in the governance of central banks, to be enlightened on emerging best practices and improve on our current performance. • third, receive country reports on progress towards macro - economic convergence – which is the acid test of how well - prepared we are for closer union. • fourth, hear of progress in the establishment of financial stability units and the production of financial stability reports by central banks, to enhance our surveillance and increase our resilience. • fifth, consider the draft charter of the comesa monetary institute towards strengthening our regulatory and supervisory framework. • and finally, agree on the choice of a host central bank to house the comesa monetary institute. that is quite an agenda. i have underlined what i believe are some of the crucial issues for