The Leader of the Opposition kicked off the budget debates this morning. Xavier-Luc Duval began by describing Renganaden Padayachy’s speech as a “mea culpa budget”. In his view, the Finance Minister had an “urgent need to put something right and make amends”. Xavier-Luc Duval argued that this was the finance minister’s way of saying that he “made mistakes and big errors”.
The opposition leader said he was “disappointed” by a “confetti budget” as, for him, the people and the country “deserved better”. He pointed out that the situation of a large proportion of households was as precarious as ever. The 2023-2024 Budget does not address the loss of purchasing power and the rising cost of living. He warned that Mauritians are starting to leave the country. One of the reasons, he said, was “the excesses of the government”. Xavier-Luc Duval pointed out that the Minister of Finance had capitalised on inflation. “The additional sums come from galloping inflation”, he declared, pointing out that “inflation is the Finance Minister’s best friend and the enemy of the poor”.
