The leaders Paul Bérenger, Xavier-Luc Duval and Nando Bodha have not made a gift to the Government on this budget. For Paul Bérenger I am shocked that there is nothing on a decrease in fuel prices” adding that “After our campaign, the government has shown some effort but very insignificant and will be swallowed up by inflation.”
Xavier Luc Duval warned the population not to be “taken in by the Money Illusion. This amount of Rs 1,000 is not enough. The depreciation of the rupee continues and inflation is rising. An increase in fuel prices is expected in the coming months,” he said.
Nando Bodha, like the other leaders, criticized the measures at length. “We had proposed several proposals and among this Rs 1000, but this effort is not enough in the long term. There is nothing that has been said for a real economic recovery. The 8.5% growth is based on the depreciation of the rupee. He also expanded on the lack of action on fraud and corruption and waste. “For them, it is Business as Usual. This illusion will fade very quickly. The problems remain the same. This political exercise is to put the people to sleep.”
Arvin Boolell- “A Confetti Budget“
“…fire-fighter and some electioneering measures”. These are the words of the leader of the Labor Party (PTr). “The money that the government is handing out at leisure comes from the Consolidated Fund” he continued “This is a confetti budget. Several major projects had already been announced. We are in a dangerous situation. The Labour Party is not happy with this budget. Shakeel Mohamed lamented that “the government has done nothing about fuel prices. He also questioned the source of the money that will be used for subsidies and salary increases among others. He asked that the documents of the Ministry of Finance on the budget be examined.
Patrick Assirvaden, for his part, spoke of the three basic things that are killing Mauritians: “Nothing on the fuel tax, nothing on the increase in food prices, nothing on the upcoming increase in the electricity tariff”. Osman Mohammed deplored that “Nothing has been done for the rehabilitation of young victims of synthetic drugs”.
For Ritesh Ramphul, “the VAT revenue which was Rs 28 billion in 2021, the government got Rs 11 billion more in 2022 and expects a revenue of Rs 45 billion” He deplored that this strategy was based on consumption only and the Minister of Finance did not touch the oil price structure despite the protest of the general public!
Dr. Ramgoolam – Sarcasm in criticism
Dr. Navin Ramgoolam who also spoke out, even though he was not present at the PTr press conference. The Minister of Finance broke an omelet to win an egg!” strong and sarcastic words to explain that Dr. Renganaden Padayachy “talked about a catalog of measures and an excursion of the island without talking about where the resources come from. The fundamentals of a budget were omitted”. He said that this budget does not give any indication on the macroeconomy and that at this point no one knows the financial state of the country. “This is a contempt for the Parliament. There have been a lot of reheating of our old manifestos. He also criticized the increase of the pension of Rs 1 000 for the 60 years old and Rs 2000 for the more than 65 years old or he made understand that it is only the smoke and mirrors because according to his calculations “with the depreciation of the rupee, a person loses between 3000 to Rs 4000”. He ended on the price of fuel which remained unchanged and concluded by drawing inspiration from the words of Bobby Hureeram “The Minister of Finance broke an omelette to win an egg!”
