Speech by President Danny Faure on 30 July 2020

Seychellois brothers and sisters,

Wie Sie wissen, öffnen wir den Flughafen wieder und nehmen die kommerziellen Flüge ab dem 1. August wieder auf. Dies war keine leichte Entscheidung, und sie wurde nicht auf die leichte Schulter genommen. Die Entscheidung wurde nach einer Reihe von Konsultationen zwischen der Regierung und allen Sektoren und Partnern, einschließlich des privaten Sektors, der Zivilgesellschaft, der SIFCO, des Arbeitgeberverbandes und der Föderation der Arbeitnehmergewerkschaften, getroffen.

In order to make it clear why we have taken this collective decision, I would like to describe in detail what we have done together in recent months, where we stand today and what lies ahead for us in the future.

As you will recall, when the first cases of COVID-19 met, we took the following measures to save lives and prevent the spread of the virus in our community.

We introduced measures to restrict movement and closed the airport, schools and non-essential services. We acted cautiously and restricted economic, social and sporting activities. We informed ourselves about the nature of this virus and about ways to avoid its infection, especially through good hygiene and social distancing, which we practice today.

These measures helped to stop the spread of that virus and to prevent all deaths related to COVID-19 in the Seychelles.

We went even further. We provided financial assistance to employers in financial difficulty to ensure that no Seychellois workers were laid off during the first months of uncertainty. We also supported businesses dependent on the tourism industry, such as taxi drivers and other small businesses. This support will continue until December.

The Central Bank worked with commercial banks to provide affordable financing to companies in difficulty. A total of SCR 1.2 billion is available to commercial banks to support businesses. In addition, the government has accelerated this assistance by acting as guarantor.

In April, May, June and July this year, the government paid more than SCR 509 million to support private sector workers. Despite the fact that we faced difficulties and delays, 16,299 workers were able to feed their families and pay their loans and expenses like everyone else.

513 million SCR is a lot of money for our small economy, but I firmly believe that the comfort and dignity of our people has no price as long as the means allow.

We have strengthened social assistance to support those who work in the informal sector. For example, in July 2019 we supported 2266 families under this programme. In the same period of this year, we have supported almost twice that number: 5399 families.

These are some of the effects of COVID-19, and this is the price we must pay to ensure that no one is left behind and no one goes hungry.

Brothers and sisters,

To date, 665,581 people have died of COVID-19 worldwide. But this pandemic is more than a public health crisis.

As we can already see, it has had a catastrophic impact on the world economy and the Seychelles. Before COVID-19, our economy was thriving: every day $3 million flowed into our economy and our banking system. More than 75% of this amount came from the tourism industry. Today this industry is on its knees. The amount of foreign exchange it brings in has gone down to almost nothing.

Other economic sectors dependent on tourism have also been hit hard and their income has also fallen dramatically.

This means that the total revenue of the country is lower, that less foreign currency comes into the country and that the revenue that the government collects through taxes is lower. And as we can see, the exchange rate has gone from 1 dollar to 14 rupees before COVID-19 to 1 dollar and now to 18 rupees because less foreign exchange has come into the system.

When the cost of the dollar increases, the cost of the goods we import also increases. We all see the changes in the price of goods in the shops.

Despite rising costs, the government has intervened to maintain the price of 14 basic goods imported by STC, including the 6 items recently added to the list. These goods cost the same as before COVID-19 and we are also working with STC to ensure that the country has a 6 month supply of goods.

The STC has also been asked to work with local farmers and fishermen to ensure that they have a market for their products, thus supporting our efforts to ensure food security in the country.

Under the programme for fishermen, more than 100 tonnes of fish were purchased from artisanal fishermen and fish processors.

Between January and June this year, STC bought 100 tons of chickens and 5 tons of pork from local farmers. During the same period, STC also bought 10 million SCR worth of vegetable products from local farmers.

The government set up an infrastructure for local meat producers to ensure that they could continue production despite the rise in feed prices. This intervention enabled the farmers to continue their work in recent months and bring their products to the market at an affordable price.

The Government consulted the Chamber of Commerce and the related importers and retailers on a regular basis in order to ensure the supply of raw materials to the Community.

I have also met with SEYPEC's leadership to ensure that we have a fuel supply for at least 6 months. This will allow the SPTC and other means of transport to keep the business running, the fishermen to go fishing, the PUC to produce electricity, run the businesses and provide electricity and gas to our families at home.

In an economy that continues to shrink, more companies will close and more workers will lose their jobs. The government has created a company: Seychelles Employee Transition Scheme (SETS), which is working on a series of programs to train and retrain laid-off workers to facilitate their reintegration into the workforce. Through SETS, redundant workers continue to receive money at the end of the month.

Seychellois brothers and sisters,

Here is some of the work that has been done in the last 4 months. It seems that sometimes we lack recognition for the amount of work and sacrifice that some have done for the welfare of all, and we allow ourselves to be distracted by negative propaganda. Sometimes it seems that there are some who hope that we will not succeed. But I say to all the men and women who are doing this hard, difficult work: do not lose faith and continue to work hard. I call on all Seychellois in all areas: Let us strengthen our contribution to Seychelles, especially in the face of this crisis we're facing. Let us remain in solidarity.