Monthly Archives: February 2021

The Republic of Seychelles lies northeast of Madagascar, an archipelago of 115 islands with almost 98,000 citizens, three-quarters of whom live on the main island of Mah. Seychelles has the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Africa, at nearly $17 billion (2019), but inequality is significant, placing the prospect of continued shared prosperity in tighter focus. Climate change also poses long-term sustainability risks.

Political Context

Independent since 1976, the Seychelles is a relatively young democracy: the first multiparty presidential election was held in 1993 after the adoption of a new constitution. A presidential election in December 2015 was closely-fought, and President James Michel narrowly elected for a third and last term by just 193 votes out of the 62,831 valid votes cast. Michel resigned in October 2016, and was replaced by his deputy, Danny Faure. In September 2016s legislative elections the opposition coalition won the parliamentary elections for the first time. Presidential and parliamentary elections are schedule for October 2020.

Economic developments and outlook

Following the economic crisis and resulting sovereign debt default in 2008, the Republic of Seychelles through a prudent reform program made significant progress in achieving economic stability and fiscal sustainability. As a result, the economy grew by an average rate of 4.2% per annum between 2009 and 2019. With the help of an International Monetary Fund program, the government maintained its target of 2.5% primary balance and was on target to reduce the debt to GDP ratio to 50% by 2021. Prudent monetary policy also led to a build-up of the gross international reserves to 3.5 months of import coverage by 2019 from less than one month at end-2008.

The economic and social shock from COVID-19 (coronavirus) on the Seychellois economy is severe due to strong dependence on international tourism. Tourism accounts for approximately 30% of gross domestic product (GDP), making the country highly vulnerable to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The global outbreak is drastically reducing economic activity in 2020 as tourist arrivals are projected to decline by more than 50%. This is affecting other sectors such as transportation; art, recreation and entertainment; wholesale and retail trade; and the financial and insurance sector. GDP is expected to contract by 15.9% in 2020 compared to the pre-pandemic projected growth rate of 3.5%. Recovery is expected to begin in 2021 with a projected increase of 4.7% driven by a recovery in the tourist industry and a resumption in capital flows. If unmitigated, the poor are expected to bear a disproportionate impact of the economic shock. According to the 2013 household survey, about 6 out of 10 poor individual have a job, mostly in informal activities in the service sector that are expected to experience significant declines.

Development challenges

While the immediate priority is the containment of COVID-19 and recovery from its economic and social impact on the country, a focus on longer term structural issues is also warranted for a strong and resilient recovery.

Among Seychelles development challenges is the importance to focus on greater productivity, participation and performance of its economy as means to increasing shared prosperity. Some of the main institutional challenges in this regard are notably barriers to open and operate businesses, inefficiencies in public sector management, such as limited statistical capacity, scope for a more strategic and sustainable approach to social protection, as well as the need to broaden access to quality education and skills development. Climate change adaptation, including through strengthened disaster preparedness systems and enhanced coastal management, is also key.

Last Updated:Jul 31, 2020

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Seychelles Overview - World Bank

VICTORIA, August 2, 2017 How can Seychelles maintain its strong economic performance while ensuring that the benefits of growth are shared, and that the gains are environmentally sustainable and resilient to future shocks? These big questions are tackled by the Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD), a World Bank report for the Seychelles.

The SCD seeks to identify the Seychelles most critical development priorities and highlight gaps in knowledge where more evidence and work are needed to inform policy. It finds that Seychelles development challenges can be summarized as the 3 Ps: Productivity, Participation, and Performance.

First, Productivity.

Seychelles economy has been growing robustly, but this growth has been powered by the heavy use of foreign investment and expatriate labor. Seychelles could, therefore, benefit from placing more emphasis on boosting the efficiency with which it uses its existing resourcesthat is, by achieving more productivity-led growth.

Productivity can be unleashed in many ways, from encouraging more innovation in key areas of the economy, such as tourism, to continuing to place emphasis on micro-, small, and medium enterprise development across all sectors.

Since 2015, the Seychelles has been classified as a High Income Economy by the World Bank (the only one in Africa). It is time for it to start growing like one, based on the never-ending increases in productivity that come through the competitive pressures of the market to do more with less, and from technological adoption and innovation.

Second, Participation.

Seychelles already enjoys high labor force participation and employment rates. But globally the labor market is increasingly rewarding workers with job-relevant skills (such as hard-to-get technical and vocational skills, advanced skills, and so-called soft skills like the communications and people skills demanded in management and sales roles). The pressure is on for the Seychelles education system to equip graduates with the tools they need to reap the benefits of the growing opportunities offered by the countrys increasingly sophisticated economy.

Social spending is already at generous levels, but it needs to be better targeted to shore up its sustainability, boost its impact for protecting the vulnerable, and empower Seychellois to get high quality jobs.

Third, Performance.

A high-performing economy, one which offers opportunities for all to participate while protecting the vulnerable and providing a safety net in hard times, cannot be achieved in a vacuum. It requires a public sector that is efficient enough to deliver high quality public services (such as education and healthcare), agile enough to respond to and anticipate emerging priorities, and small enough not to divert scarce financial and human resources away from the private sector, which is responsible for generating the bulk of employment and income.

Seychelles has made much progress on this front in the reformist period following the 2008 global financial crisis, and it can build on this further to position government and its state-owned enterprises to support a high-performing, high-participation economy.

Through the lens of the 3Ps, the World Bank identifies five top priority areas for Seychelles to make even more progress in achieving shared prosperity. They are: (1) to strengthen the private sector enabling environment, (2) to maintain the focus on macroeconomic and fiscal policy stability, (3) to further increase public spending efficiency, (4) to strengthen education and skills development, and (5) to streamline and use more strategically its social assistance spending.

Of course, and as covered in the report, there are many other priorities too, such as tackling the quality and price of credit and energy, reducing labor market rigidities, enhancing healthcare, and confronting the substantial challenge posed by the inevitability of external economic shocks and by climate change.

Reasonable people can, and no doubt will, disagree on how best to describe and rank the many challenges faced by Seychelles. Our hope is that the SCD offers one useful perspective, contributing to the national debate, and that it can also be used as one input to the new national development planning process that has been launched.

As Seychelles takes stock of its developmental success to date, and plans to elevate this even further, the SCD also identifies how much the country stands to benefit from investing more in gathering data and using it to inform debate and public policies.

Perhaps to the 3Ps we could add 2Ds: Data and Digitization.

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Meeting Seychelles Productivity, Participation, and ...

With the vaccine roll out offering hope to millions of Londoners for a return to normal, some are inevitably dreaming of a holiday away.

But it's not going to be as easy as it was pre-pandemic.

Covid infection rates and the government measures put in place to counter them vary from country to country.

Which means you won't be able to pick and chose were you go abroad when the UK travel restrictions ease.

A number of countries have said they will accept vaccinated travellers including Iceland, Cyprus and the Seychelles, reports the Mirror.

Currently of course it is illegal for Brits to travel abroad for holidays, and the government is cracking down on rule-breakers including requiring people to provide a valid reason for travel or risk being turned away at the airport, or even being fined.

At the time of writing, a number of destinations haven't included Brits in the list of travellers they will be welcoming back, for a mixture of reasons spanning fears of a mutant coronavirus strain in the UK, to only welcoming back EU members in an initial wave.

Still, the news that vaccinated travellers will be welcome back do offer a glimmer of hope, especially for future travels when restrictions are eventually relaxed.

We take a look at the countries who've said they will welcome back vaccinated travellers - and whether Brits are included in the list.

Travel restrictions are subject to change during the pandemic. You should always check the latest FCDO travel advice before planning, booking or going on a trip.

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Iceland has announced that it won't require travellers to quarantine if they have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 .

Current rules mean all arrivals must undergo a PCR test upon arrival followed by a 5-6 day quarantine, and then a second screening. However, the new policy means travellers with a Covid vaccination certificate won't need to undergo screenings or self-isolation .

Are Brits on the list? Not for the initial stage. Iceland is only accepting vaccine certificates that meet certain criteria including being issued in an EEA/EFTA state. As the UK has left the EU, it doesn't qualify. However, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iceland told the Mirror that "as soon as the UK vaccine certificates are validated by the WHO, we will be looking at whether we can accept them at our borders".

The Seychelles' tourism authorities announced earlier this year that "with immediate effect, Seychelles will be welcoming vaccinated visitors from any part of the world".

Anyone who receives the vaccination will need to wait for two weeks after receiving their second dose before they will be allowed to head to the island.

There will still be entry requirements for vaccinated visitors; you'll need to prove you've had two doses of the official vaccines, and you'll still need to provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test result, taken up to 72 hours before departure.

Borders will remain closed to visitors who haven't been vaccinated, or who aren't travelling from the list of approved countries.

Are Brits on the list? At the time of writing, the Seychelles has closed its borders to anyone travelling from the UK.

Estonia has revealed that from February 1, Brits who have received the Covid-19 vaccination will no longer be required to isolate for 10 days or undergo Covid-19 tests.

The country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the news in January. There will be some criteria that needs to be met though - for example, no more than six months have passed since receiving the complete vaccine.

Are Brits on the list? Yes - Brits who have received the vaccine won't need to isolate or undergo testing.

Cyprus is looking to introduce a new policy where vaccinated travellers will not need to undergo current testing and quarantine rules.

Cyprus Transport Minister Yiannis Karousos revealed the plan to the Cyprus Mail. He said: "The amended action plan is expected to further boost the interest of airline companies to carry out additional flights to Cyprus, improve connectivity and increase passenger traffic."

Travellers who are not vaccinated will still need to meet Cyprus' entry requirements.

Are Brits on the list? Cyprus will continue to determine entry for travellers based on the country they're travelling from - and at the time of writing, the UK is not on this list.

Poland has lifted a mandatory 10-day self-isolation for travellers who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 and can provide proof of vaccine certification.

Quarantine is also lifted for visitors who have proof of a negative Covid-19 test taken within 48 hours before crossing the Polish border.

Are Brits on the list? Yes. Brits are able to enter Poland (once the UK's bans on international travel lift).

Romania has announced that travellers who have been vaccinated against coronavirus will be exempt from measures such as quarantine.

You'll need to have received both doses of the vaccine, and arrived in Romania more than 10 days after the second dose, to qualify for the exemption.

Are Brits on the list? According to the Foreign Office, UK nationals and non-EU/EEA nationals resident in the UK are not permitted to enter Romania for non-essential purposes, due to EU-wide COVID-19 restrictions in place for third country nationals.

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Countries Londoners could fly to this summer including The Seychelles, Cyprus and Poland - My London

17 February 2021 | Foreign Affairs

The President of the Republic of Seychelles, Mr Wavel Ramkalawan welcomed the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Seychelles, H.E Mr. Artyom Kozhin for a courtesy call at State House yesterday morning. Also present for the meeting was the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Mr Sylvestre Radegonde and Russian Embassy First Secretary, Mr. Maxim Matasov.

Amongst the areas of discussion, the Ambassador H.E Mr. Kozhin announced the donation of 500 Thousand US Dollars by the Russian business community towards the COVID-19 Relief Fund, an initiative of President Ramkalawan launched on 10th January 2021, in order to sustain the implementation of the Country's National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme.

On behalf of Government and the people of Seychelles, President Ramkalawan personally expressed his deep appreciation to the Russian business community for the generous donation to the COVID-19 Relief Fund. During the dialogue, Ambassador H.E Mr. Kozhin also confirmed that discussions are in progress for a potential donation of the Sputnik V Vaccine for a trial run in Seychelles.

"Seychelles and Russia have enjoyed a longstanding friendship, we remain committed to rally our efforts to achieve our set goals and elevate our relations to new heights for the mutual benefit of both our nations. I look forward to the continued active exchanges between our countries across bilateral, multilateral and global platforms," said President Ramkalawan.

Other areas of discussion centered on other important domains of collaboration such as Education, Capacity Building and Specialised training for Seychellois nationals, Tourism and Air Connectivity, Investment and Trade as well as expansion of cooperation in the Fisheries sector.

Ambassador Kozhin is based in Seychelles and was accredited on 10th March 2020. Seychelles and Russia established diplomatic relations on 29th June 1976.

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Bilateral cooperation between Seychelles and Russia takes new heights - Office of the President of the Republic of Seychelles

17 February 2021 | Cabinet Business

President Wavel Ramkalawan chaired a scheduled meeting of the Cabinet today, Wednesday 17th February, at which a number of legal and policy memoranda were considered.

Cabinet approved for the repeal of certain provisions in the Beach Control Act, 1971 and the Beach Control Regulation 1978 pertaining to the administration of the inshore waters of the Seychelles and to enact the Seychelles Maritime Safety Authority (Inshore Waters) Regulations 2021 which will now undertake the tasks of regulating the inshore waters of the Seychelles.

Cabinet also approved for the repeal of certain provisions in the Seychelles Licenses Act, 2010 as well as the Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Act 2019, pertaining to the licensing of commercial maritime activities and for the enactment of the Seychelles Maritime Safety Authority (Licenses) Regulation, 2021.

Cabinet approved to introduce the Seychelles Maritime Safety Authority (Fees) Regulations 2021 to enable the Seychelles Maritime Safety Authority to implement and administer the fees necessitated under the Act.

Cabinet approved for the enactment ofthe Merchant Shipping (Identification of Ships) Regulations 2021 which would prescribe the requirements that must be fulfilled in order to identify ships of less than 10 metres in Seychelles.

Cabinet approvedthe Policy for the establishment and maintenance of an Office, to be known as the Office of the Former President.

Cabinet approved the new Prevention of Terrorism Bill and the Prevention of Terrorism Regulations which will also include proliferation financing.

Cabinet approved for the ratification of the SADC Agreement on Assistance in Tax Matters.

Cabinet approved the Asset Management Regime in support of asset recovery efforts.

Cabinet approved amendments to Regulations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act, 2020.

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Cabinet Business - Wednesday 17th February 2021 - News - Office of the President of the Republic of Seychelles

16 February 2021 | Education

The President of the Republic, Mr Wavel Ramkalawan received the new vice-chancellor of the University of Seychelles (UniSey), Miss Jolle Perreau at State House yesterday.

Miss Perreau is the fifth vice-chancellor of the University of Seychelles (UniSey) and she has been employed with UniSey since its inception in 2010. She has made a significant contribution to the development of programmes, teaching, and quality assurance of the university. She joined the UniSey leadership cadre in 2015, as the head of programme, which she was then later promoted to dean of faculty.

President Ramkalawan congratulated Miss Perreau in her new post and hoped that this brings new impetus to the University of Seychelles. The President conveyed his continued support and that of the government towards the university where he conveyed his appreciation to all staff for their hard work and dedication.

I would like to congratulate you and the UniSey team for the amazing work you are doing. I have no doubt that you will continue to work hard to bring the University of Seychelles to greater heights. Today, I would like to reiterate the support of the Government to the University in ensuring capacity building remains a priority for our nation, said the President.

The discussion centred on the role of the university in the country and how it can undergo greater transformation in offering more programmes based on the needs of the country as well as venture in research, innovation and technology.

In an interview with the local press, on behalf of the UniSey Council and staff of the University, Miss Perreau expressed her gratitude to have been granted an audience with the President, where she shared with the Head of State how the University can further support Seychelles to develop its people intellectually, professionally and engage in practical research for the betterment particularly in the decision-making process in all sectors.

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President receives the newly appointed Unisey Vice-Chancellor - Office of the President of the Republic of Seychelles