Nicknamed Rambo, the former prime minister and president of the Mauritian Republic, Sir Anerood Jugnauth (the great SAJ), died Thursday, June 3 at the age of 91 after 56 years of presence in the political life of this island country . Six times prime minister and president for 9 years, he was the antithesis of Putin’s interventionism for which democracy must give way to reason of state and the economy. Leader of the political opposition between 1976 and 1982 in a political party, the MMM, of Marxist obedience, he became Prime Minister for the first time in 1982, chaining four terms under the sign of democracy, the market economy and the welfare state.
Upon assuming the post of prime minister, Mauritius threatened to sink under the weight of a high budget deficit, Olympic unemployment, record inflation and a double devaluation of the Rupee. Tomb of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, the SAJ had no other choice but to face the emergencies by offering international investors an industrial free zone with unbeatable conditions, by readjusting the taxation downwards, by opening the Mauritius Stock Exchange ( Mauritius Stock Exchange) in 1989 and, on another level, maintaining English as the official language instead of Creole.
A policy of openness that also involves the Bretton Woods institutions, which demanded nothing more and no less than the abolition of free education, subsidies on flour and rice. There too, he will negotiate late by not giving in to all requirements while remaining pragmatic. Solicited for $ 30 million, the IMF will therefore demand painful reforms in the guise of austerity policy against Sir Anerood Jugnauth’s criticism of the Labor Party government he vilified. From 1982 to 1995, the years during which he led the government, Mauritius experienced profound economic change. From 1984 to 1988, the growth rate evolved by 7% on average. From the sugarcane exporting country and textile factories, Mauritius has become a platform for high value-added services in finance and IT, aimed at India and Africa.
