The Seychelles islands - dive into an investment
Posted By Sara-Lise Haith on 27 January 2005
4 35 S, 55 40 E, lies a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar. They comprise over 100 islands and are the only mid-ocean granite islands in the world. The islands are split into three main groups, the Inner Islands in the North, with the Amirantes and Aldabra & the Southern Islands lying to a South Easterly direction.
The Seychelles have a tropical maritime climate with temperatures in the 24 - 30°C, (75 - 86°F), range from May to September, the South East wind season; the warmest season is October to April when light North Westerly winds allow temperatures to rise to 32°C, 90°F. Sea temperatures are around the 25°C, 77°F during the South East season and peak out at around 29°C, 85°F, in the North West season.
The Republic of Seychelles was a settlement established by the French in the mid-eighteenth century with only 15 Europeans, five Malabar Indians, and 7 seven Africans. From this, the population grew to 3500 by the time the Seychelles was ceded to Britain in 1814. According to the history of Seychelles, it was the Arabs who first navigated the waters around the Seychelles as early as the 19th century.
162 years later, a single party state, led by Albert Rene, had gained power in a coup d'etat from its democratically elected predecessor, fronted by James Mancham, shortly after Seychelles was granted independence from Britain in 1976. During that time, a 'campaign for democracy', based in London and supported by James Mancham, railed against the perceived injustices going on in Seychelles; besides widespread disappearances, occasional killings, the suppression and eventual expulsion abroad of all dissenting voices, these included further spates of land acquisitions. In 2004 President Rene resigned, to be succeeded by his deputy, James Michel.
Since their independence, per capita output in this Indian Ocean archipelago has expanded to roughly seven times the old near-subsistence level. Growth has been led by the tourist sector, which employs about 30% of the labour force and provides more than 70% of hard currency earnings, and by tuna fishing, and export of cinnamon bark and copra.
The unit of currency is the Seychelles Rupee (SR) which is divided into 100 cents. In mid-1998 5 SR = 1 USD. Paper notes are in denominations of 10, 25, 50 and 100 SR. Coins are 1 and 5 SR as well as 1, 5, 10 and 25 cents. However, all hotels will charge you in EUROS so take plenty with you!
Investment
In recent years the government has encouraged foreign investment in order to upgrade hotels and other services. Private foreign investment is encouraged in tourism, manufacturing and petroleum exploration. The Seychelles International Business Authority set up by the government in 1995, offers incentives and tax concessions to foreign investors. Over 1,000 international companies are registered in the country. I was chatting to the resort owner where I stayed, and in the modest and relaxed Seychellois way he said that if you come with 40,000USD to the Seychelles and offer to buy a decent diving boat with it the government will fall over to help you to do the rest!
Apparently, it is also low tax and employers receive an automatic entitlement to employ up to 25% of employees from overseas, at a confessional fee of SR. 500 per month per employee out in the legislation. To encourage investors, the Government has enacted the Investment Promotion Act 1994, which enables businesses to operate under a guaranteed taxation climate with special incentives laid. The Seychelles is a signatory to the Lome TV convention benefiting from the provisions of the convention, a member state of the African Caribbean Pacific countries, and a signatory to the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, which protects all investors from expropriation. If you aren't sure about what I have just written, the plain words of it are TAX HAVEN. Now I can already see some smiles.
So, offshore banking in Seychelles is possible with few questions asked. In fact, I read somewhere that the president, in an attempt to boost the country's economy, announced that for $10 million, the Seychelles would grant immunity from prosecution for all criminal proceedings whatsoever. That means criminals won't be extradited from the Seychelles to any foreign country for trial. If this were true, then as a potential Seychellois neighbour I would keep myself to myself!
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