Bloomberg news - Mon, 12 July 2010
Piracy in the Indian Ocean has prompted insurance costs to soar in the Seychelles, at the same time driving down ports and fishery revenue, Seychellois President James Michel said today.
“Insurance costs have ballooned by 50 percent. Port and fisheries receipts have declined by 30 percent,” Michel said in an e-mailed statement. “While trade levels drop, anarchy is being exported across our region,” he added. ...more
Reuters - Tue, 27 January 2009
VICTORIA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Foreign accents fill the lunchtime air at a beachfront restaurant while diners clad in Ralph Lauren and Prada sunglasses knock back succulent tiger prawns and chilled white wine.
It is the scene the Seychelles archipelago has built its image on. But for locals, who had been enjoying one of Africa's highest standards of living, the good life is on ice. ...more
FXSTREET.COM - Fri, 09 January 2009
Jan 9 (Reuters) - Seychelles President James Michel, in an interview with Reuters, appealed for foreign debt relief on Friday for his crisis-hit archipelago.
Here are key facts about him:
* Michel came to power in 2004 after predecessor France Albert Rene, head of state since leading a coup in 1977, stepped down mid-term. Michel served out the remainder of Rene's term and retained the presidency by popular vote in July 2006 elections, winning 54 percent of the ballot. ...more
Reuters - Fri, 09 January 2009
(Reuters) - The Seychelles president called on Friday for creditors to cancel half the archipelago's $800 million foreign debt to help a slowing economy at the sharp edge of the global crisis.
Far from the world's financial hubs and best-known as a luxury tropical retreat for tycoons and celebrities, the Indian Ocean nation of just 85,000 people saw a dramatic fall in growth last year and foreign reserves neared exhaustion. ...more