<B>DESPITE</B> the prime minister?s expressed optimism, the business circle is apprehensive about the country?s economic future. The outgoing president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), Anil Currimjee, expressed his worries at the general assembly last Wednesday. The PM?s confident tone and his reassuring words on a bright economic future, have not convinced him.

During his last meeting with the private sector, the Prime minister expressed his satisfaction with investment reevival in Mauritius. He said that foreign investors had regained confidence in the country. But Anil Currimjee does not share his optimism. ?We have to recognize that during the past year the government has taken a number of initiatives to promote investment. But in our opinion it was not enough and certainly not quick enough.? The major problem concerns private sector investment. As Anil Currimjee explained in his speech, ?the significant increase in investment is explained by a massive public investment program, private investment has actually dropped by 5.5%.? In spite of signs of increase in private sector investment, the outgoing president preaches caution ?unless this is materialised and maintained.? Creation and expansion of companies should be favoured to attract foreign investors. Existing bottlenecks should be cleared to make investment easier and quicker.

He also addressed the unemployment controversy. He believes the real problem is the numerous job losses in the EPZ and the sugar industry. ?The loss of jobs in the EPZ and sugar sectors has dampened the impact of the creation of jobs in the rest of the economy, the net effect being a further increase in the rate of unemployment.? This is in contradiction with Paul Bérenger?s version.

<B>Political stake</B>

The prime minister expressed the opinion lately that the unemployment rate was not that high. He highlighted the press responsibility in forging the public?s mistaken perception. The unemployment issue is a political stake and the Labour spokesperson on economic issues, Rama Sithanen, has been refuting these arguments. He has accused the PM of using the statistics that favour his government and of dodging the real problems. He also asserted that the unemployment rate is about 11% (against 6% quoted by the PM), which would bring the number of unemployed to 60 000 persons, of which 32 000 are redundancies and 28 000 new job seekers.

The head of government only takes into account the 34 000 jobs created within the past three years and does not mention redundancies and new job seekers on the work market. Rama Sithanen said he had taken the recent factory closures and the interruption of Ralph Lauren trade production into consideration.

The Labour spokesperson believes that the PM has questioned the credibility of the Central Statistics Office.

He does not think this is justified: ?All international and local economic institutions use the same method to calculate unemployment rate.?At the moment, the Mauritian economy seems to be a question of perception. Political leaders tend to interpret the statistics that favour their vision. Anil Currimjee rightly points this out. ?Wherever one looks these days the signals are conflicting. Be it on the state of the economy, social attitudes or even in the political arena, never before has the average Mauritian been confronted with such confusing information and views.?