The report follows a June 20-24 visit by the IMF’s head of mission for Seychelles and Gigineishvili Nikolov who came to prepare for a full evaluation to be done by a bigger team later this year.

The IMF said it is happy with the efforts the authorities are making towards full economic recovery.
“Preliminary data for the first quarter of 2011 are favourable. Economic activity continues to be on the rise, supported by a strong tourism sector,” the IMF said in a press release.

“Consumer price inflation remains low – about 2% year-on-year – as the increase in international prices of food and fuel have not yet passed through to domestic prices.

Though international prices of food and oil continue to rise, Seychelles’ government has put in place a R500 million “stabilisation” fund to shield Seychellois from the major shocks being felt in other countries.

“The present fiscal and monetary policy stances continue to be geared toward maintaining macroeconomic stability and reducing public debt,” said the IMF.

“We are encouraged by the authorities’ progress in implementing the programme of structural reforms, including preparations for the introduction a value-added tax in mid-2012; and steps toward eliminating Air Seychelles’s losses and strengthening competition in the financial sector.

The mission thanked the authorities for their “high quality of the technical discussions,” adding “the programme remains on track, and the mission and the authorities see eye to eye on the challenges ahead”.

The team met Vice-President Danny Faure, governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles Pierre Laporte, the Minister for Home Affairs, Environment, Transport and Energy Joel Morgan, principal secretary for Finance Ahmed Afif, and other senior government officials as well as representatives of the private sector and diplomatic community.