IOREC: Property Market In Mauritius a Profitable Investment.

The sluggish global economy has not left the property sector unscathed, but the high-end estate market on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius is showing remarkable resilience.

Murray Adair, CEO of the Indian Ocean Real Estate Company (IOREC) who is developing several luxury resorts in Mauritius in partnership with Flacq United Estates Limited (FUEL), says while there had been a slow-down in the property market, sales transactions in upmarket resorts on the island remain buoyant.

Adair says this is particularly true for resorts developed under the Mauritian Government’s Integrated Resort Schemes (IRS) which aims to encourage foreign direct investment. He pointed out that more foreign ownership approved units were sold in 2011 than in the whole of 2009 and 2010 combined. Under the IRS, foreigners are allowed permanent residence in Mauritius when they invest $500 000 or more in these designated resorts and they keep this status for as long as they own the property.

“We find that the IRS is definitely encouraging investment on the island. For example, over 50% of the properties at Azuri, a luxury beachfront village to be built on the coast about 25 km from Port Louis on the north east coast, have been sold off-plan since it was launched in September 2011,” says Adair.

Adair says while the International Monetary Fund in January cut its 2012 growth forecast for Mauritius from 4.1% to 3.8%, the country remains a sought-after tourist and investment destination. He says the tourism sector contributes 15% to the GDP of Mauritius and remains the biggest foreign exchange earner for the island.

“The Government’s initiatives to further diversify the economy and encourage investments from the Far East, including China, Russia and India will further enhance the long-term growth potential of the island,” concludes Adair.

IMf Chief says,Global Economic Crisis presents many lessons.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Tuesday said the global economic slowdown has presented many lessons, and added that the financial sector, which has been identified as a ‘high contagion’ agent for the crisis must aid growth, not threaten it.

Addressing at a New Delhi conference on sustaining high-quality growth in India and China, Lagarde billed the financial and real estate sectors as the prime causes of the global financial crisis.

“We’ve also identified that the financial sector and financial institutions were high-contagion agents for the crisis, and that tells us, I think, a lot about where reforms have to focus going forward, both in the advanced economies and the emerging markets,” said Lagarde.

“Whether it is China or India, the financial sectors and the financial institutions have to be strong, have to be agents for growth and not a threat to growth,” she added.

Referring to the financial crisis in the Euro zone, the IMF chief said concerted efforts by some European nations and the European Central Bank (ECB) had pulled the continent further away from the brink, though several challenges still remained to be tackled.

“Thanks to the ECB, thanks to the European partners really addressing the issue of governance and thanks to the European partners and the IMF really focusing on what needs to be improved, we are further away from the abyss than we were three months ago, but there are still some really significant vulnerabilities and fragile areas that need to be tackled, that need to be addressed with rigour and vigour in the months to come,” Lagarde said.