For those in economics, this means a lot. We want you, our people, to understand the tricks and false figures Sithanen is using.

Hot money is the money a buyer sends to buy his villa, which is still under construction. It is money for the contractor, for the sanitary, for the tiles and everything else, including his gold-plated toilet!

This money remains in a commercial bank until it is used to pay for the imported goods.

At the end of the day, this money NEVER goes to the Bank of Mauritius, and so CANNOT be counted as reserves.

Unfortunately Sithanen is counting it as such and announcing this money from the sale of our country jewels as a good thing.

Hot money is just money passing through like a river. It does not last! Buyers move their money from country to country for their advantage, not for the country’s advantage.

Even the MCB Focus is warning things can go very wrong (See copy in any MCB bank and on the Net).

Beware of inflation, loss of buying power, loss of jobs, bankruptcies and a bad economic period behind the door with a clown of a Minister of Finance!