Swan Securities : Sweet, Sweeter & Sweetest

Last year’s budget speech was entitled ‘Pursuing Our Transformative Journey’ and the country was transformed into a major construction site with the advent of the Light railway or Metro Express and other major road decongestion programmes around the island.

On this Monday 10th June 2019, the Honourable Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, Minister of Finance & Economic Development, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth presented the government’s 4th budget ‘EMBRACING A BRIGHTER FUTURE TOGETHER AS A NATION’. For nearly 2 hours, the Mauritian population was sweetened with a good dose of positive social measures leading to an increase in their disposable income:

1. higher income exemption threshold;
2. employees earning a monthly salary of up to Rs. 50,000 or an annual net income of up Rs. 700,000 will be eligible to a tax credit of 5% to be offset against the 10% income tax liability;
3. reduction of Mogas (petrol) from Rs. 47.00 to Rs. 44.00 and Diesel from Rs. 38.00 to Rs. 35.00;
4. reduction in the price of 12Kg cylinder of cooking gas from Rs. 240 to Rs. 210
5. elderly pension raised by Rs. 500 to Rs. 6,710;
6. free medical insurance scheme for public sector employees earning up to Rs. 10,000 and for those earning more than Rs. 10,000 Government will subsidise by 50%
7. Rs.1,000 in monthly allowance to all public sector employees as from 1st Jan 2020;
8. issue of Silver Bonds for Mauritian elderly bearing an interest rate of 5.5% per annum payable quarterly

Could it get any sweeter? …..