The Ministry of Investment, Entrepreneurship and Industry held a sensitisation workshop on Tuesday with the Seychelles Licensing Authority (SLA) and the Registry with the aim of guiding foreign direct investment (FDI) in Seychelles.
The principal secretary for Investment, Michael Nalletamby, stated that the session is a series which will be conducted with other relevant entities.
S.I. 76 of 2022, which replaces S.I. 148 that was annulled in 2020, is a statutory instrument of the Seychelles Investment Act. The aim of the instrument along with the Reserved Economic Activity Policy (REAP) and the Economic Needs Test (ENT) is to help guide foreign direct investment and bring about transparency and predictability within the investment landscape of the country.
This follows a series of consultations and reflects the commitments Seychelles made based on the United Nations Central Product Classification (UN CPC) list to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership.
The S.I. 76 of 2022 contains two schedules:
1) An open category with a list of business activities in which a non-Seychellois investor may invest fully; meaning 100% investment in Seychelles;
2) A partially open category with a list of business activities in which a non-Seychellois is required to invest jointly with a Seychellois at a certain percentage as specified in the schedule.
“We are using this together with REAP to manage investments in the economy,” said PS Nalletamby.
“Only the first schedule and second schedule can non-Seychellois partake in. It is not a lot, we did not open all, only certain key sectors such as tourism, education etc. In the second schedule it is only certain activities, but investors must have a Seychellois partner and this again creates opportunities for Seychellois,” said the PS.
REAP however aims at reserving certain activities for Seychellois and guiding other activities to non-Seychellois that are not readily offered by Seychellois investors to not restrict supply and competition in the economy.
ENT is there for the activities that do not clearly fall in the three other categories.
Source: Seychelles Nation
