Africa-Press – Mauritius. The Bank of Mauritius (BoM) has charted the way for the banking system to evolve along a sound path which will serve the economy and the people in our journey to greater prosperity, said the Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, this morning at JW Marriott Mauritius Resort at Le Morne, at the opening of a two-days’ Governors’ Meet, held on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the BoM.
The Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Dr Renganaden Padayachy; the Governor of the BoM, Mr Harvesh Kumar Seegolam; Governors and Executives of Central Banks; as well as representatives of Central Banks from Africa, Asia, Middle East and Europe, were present.
On that occasion, the Future of Banking Report as well as two commemorative coins to mark the Bank’s 55th Anniversary were also launched by the Prime Minister.
The first one is the Rs 2,500 Commemorative Gold Coin and the second one is the Rs 2,000 Commemorative Gold Coin. In his address, Prime Minister Jugnauth recalled that the Central Bank has reached a major milestone in fulfilling its mandate for the past 55 years.
It has always stood tall, even though our economy had to face countless challenges since the inception of the Bank, he said. He pointed out how during the economic crisis generated by the pandemic, the BoM stepped in to mitigate the impact on the economy and the social fabric by supporting businesses, households, and individuals.
He added that the Bank had introduced a COVID-19 Support Programme and established the Mauritius Investment Corporation Ltd. These bold measures, he stated, have contributed to salvage the economy, save jobs, and shield businesses, especially systemic corporates, against the economic backlash of the pandemic.
Furthermore, these measures which aimed at protecting the interest of the country and citizens, have enabled Mauritius to rise rapidly from the severe blow dealt by the pandemic.
He also highlighted that since the past 55 years, the Central Bank has taken bold and timely steps to transform Mauritius from a monocrop economy in the 1960’s to a well-diversified economy.
Speaking about the revamping of the BoM, the Prime Minister stated that several initiatives are being taken to that end, namely: the preparation of a new Bank of Mauritius Bill and a Banking Bill, both of which will further strengthen the institutional framework for the Central Bank; the launching of a state-of-the-art digital hub, the Mauritius Central Automated Switch, for routing payments among operators on a 24/7 basis; and the development of an infrastructure to integrate all Government payments.
Furthermore, he underscored that on the cross-border front, the Bank has a roadmap to enter into bilateral agreements with payment schemes of jurisdictions with which Mauritius has strong commercial relationships.
A first project has been initiated with the National Payment Corporation of India for retail payments through RuPay cards and mobile phones, he said. He added that the BoM is also exploring the potential introduction of Central Bank Digital Currencies to guard against the risks of digital forms of private money.
As for Dr Padayachy, he rejoiced that Mauritius features amongst the economies that are most resilient and competitive since it has largely diversified from a monocrop economy. As regards economic perspectives, he stated that the Gross Domestic Product will be more than 7% in 2022.
He also recalled that the Banking Bill will be introduced by the end of the year and that the pilot project for the development of a digital currency will be ready by the end of the year.
For his part, the Governor of the BoM stated that the hallmark in the evolution of the BoM has been its institutional strength. He underlined that since the past two years, the Central Bank launched a series of measures to avoid any contagion to the banking system from macro financial turbulences.
He rejoiced that the banking system has successfully weathered the crisis unscathed adding that our foreign exchange reserves have remained at a level that satisfies any adequacy metrics, with a 15 months of import cover.
Mr Seegolam further stated that technology is constantly disrupting the delivery of and access to financial services. Central banks have to grapple with these challenges in a rapidly-evolving environment, he added.
Moreover he listed out the initiatives by the BoM which include: digitalisation of the financial sector; the implementation of the Central Bank Digital Currency – the Digital Rupee – that may transform our currency and payment ecosystem in the years to come.
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