Mauritius’ new prime minister announces audit of public finances

PORT LOUIS (Reuters) – The new prime minister of Mauritius has announced an audit of the public finances days after his coalition won a resounding election victory, casting a shadow over the accuracy of previous government data.

Navin Ramgoolam’s opposition Alliance du Changement coalition won a landslide in the Nov. 10 ballot, giving him a fourth stint as prime minister.

The 77-year-old premier said in a speech on Sunday that his government would conduct “an audit of the state, of the economy, and public finances” and that they would publish all the results.

“All the numbers from the finance minister are wrong,” Ramgoolam said, according to reporting by Bloomberg. “Soon, you will know. They manipulated the data to make you believe that life is rosy.”

His comments could cause unease among foreign investors and international lending institutions in the Indian ocean archipelago, which is an offshore financial centre marketing itself as a link between Africa and Asia.

Neither Ramgoolam’s representatives nor outgoing Finance Minister Renganaden Padayachy immediately responded to calls and a message seeking comment.

Despite enjoying 7.0% economic growth last year, several voters said during the election that a cost of living crisis was colouring their views of the government lead by incumbent Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth.

Mauritius has typically been seen as one of Africa’s most stable democracies.

Transforming itself from a low-income, sugarcane-dependent nation in the 1960s to an upper-middle-income country, Mauritius has been consistently ranked the easiest place to do business in Africa by the World Bank.

(Reporting by Hereward Holland and Villen Anganan; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by George Obulutsa and Christina Fincher)