The economy of Seychelles will contract 10.8 percent in 2020 due to the tourism shutdown because of COVID-19, top officials said Thursday. President Danny Faure chaired an in-depth presentation attended by journalists, an indication that leaders want to disseminate COVID-related economic information to the public. With tourism -- the main pillar of Seychelles' economy -- [...]
Some $2 million is expected to be collected at the end of this year as a new tax on foreign owners of homes kicks in. The immovable property tax was endorsed by Seychelles’ Cabinet of Ministers earlier this month and will apply for non-Seychellois owning buildings for residential purposes on the island nation. Roseline Lepathy [...]
Ethiopia on Wednesday acknowledged that water levels behind its mega-dam on the Blue Nile River were increasing, though officials said this was a natural part of the construction process. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has been a source of tension in the Nile River basin ever since Ethiopia broke ground on it in 2011, [...]
A seasonal delicacy in Seychelles -- bird eggs -- are now being enjoyed widely on the island nation with the last consignment distributed last weekend. Sooty tern eggs, available from June until August were collected on Bird Island - the northernmost island of Seychelles, and Cosmoledo.This year is the first that the eggs have been collected on [...]
The Maldives reopened its tourist resorts Wednesday and welcomed its first international flight in more than three months even as the Indian Ocean holiday hotspot records a steady rise in coronavirus infections. Tourism is a major earner for the Maldives, a tropical island paradise popular with honeymooners and celebrities. As the Qatar Airways flight from [...]
Zambia's government on Tuesday rejected claims President Edgar Lungu had bankrolled a Rwandan rebel leader accused of orchestrating deadly attacks in his country's border regions. The claims were made by the rebel chief, Callixte Nsabimana, who is on trial for terrorism and other charges. He has already admitted to working with other foreign governments against [...]
Seychelles will conduct a pilot study next year with electric buses to test whether or not they work well as a mode of public transportation, said a top government official. The pilot project will start with two electric buses which will be used for demonstration by the Seychelles Public Transport Corporation (SPTC). "The buses will [...]
Aquaculture and large-scale farming will soon be restarted on some of the outer islands of Seychelles, the company that manages and develops the outer islands said Wednesday. The chief executive of the Islands Development Company (IDC) told the press that Coëtivy is an island where prawn farming and extensive agriculture will be reintroduced, adding that [...]
Earth will be home to 8.8 billion souls in 2100, two billion fewer than current UN projections, according to a major study published Wednesday that foresees new global power alignments shaped by declining fertility rates and greying populations. By century's end, 183 of 195 countries -- barring an influx of immigrants -- will have fallen [...]
Twenty four of the 91 seafarers from the Spanish tuna fishing fleet operating in Seychelles who tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered, the Public Health Commissioner said Tuesday. Jude Gedeon said the development means recoveries have begun; last week none of the new positive cases had recovered. Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, [...]
