According to the UNCTAD World Investment Report 2019, irrespective of the slow down in the global Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, worth $46bn flowed into Africa in 2018 which was higher by 11 percent compared to 2017. The report lauded the role of Mauritius as a rapidly evolving International Finance Centre (IFC) promoting FDI into Africa. Mauritius acted as a gateway to African markets for FDI from India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand etc with its well-established frameworks to attract international investment.
The author of the report James Zhan, who is also the director of UNCTAD’s Investment and Enterprise Division remarked that Mauritius was “building the island as a business hub and offering more business services to East African countries”.Mauritius also participated in the development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in various African countries to create a conducive environment for local operators in zone development. As a pioneer in setting up EPZ since 1970s, Mauritius could share its experience and expertise with other African countries in this area. Mauritius has recently introduced a five-year tax holiday for companies collaborating in developing infrastructure in SEZs.
In a recent budget speech by the Honourable Pravind Jugnauth, Mauritian Prime Minister stated that his country was committed to expanding economic horizons and deepen economic diversification in partnership with other African countries. He unveiled plans to expand the accessibility of products and services across Africa by establishing a new framework for fund administration and fund management. The existing Special Purpose Fund regime reportedly will be revamped to ease access to new markets. An umbrella licence for wealth management activities, a scheme for headquartering ‘e-commerce’ activities and a framework for Green Finance, are also expected to take shape. Setting up a regional value chain for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG); Textile City in Madagascar; projects to take advantage of the Industrial and Development Park in Naivasha, Kenya , SEZs in Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana are some of the ongoing initiatives.Mauritius IFC has diversified as a financial eco-system to include investment banking, global legal advisory services, global headquarters administration, global treasury activities, overseas family offices and asset and fund management schemes.
