Seychelles

The Republic of Seychelles is an archipelago comprising 115 islands with a land mass of 455km² located to the northeast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. It is the smallest country in the African Union with a population of 99.3 million people and a GDP of US$1.5bn. It has one of the highest rates of adult literacy on the continent.\r\n\r\nMineral production does not play a significant part in the economy, and consists of small quantities of common building materials extracted for domestic consumption.\r\n\r\nOver the last decade, growth has primarily been a result of the expansion of the tourism sector, which employs about 30% of the labour force and provides more than 70% of hard currency earnings. Policy reform to promote fishing, agro-processing and import-substituting industries is also expected to lead the direction of growth in future. The war in Ukraine reduced tourist arrivals from Russia and Ukraine, but an increase in arrivals from Western Europe has muted the impact. The economy continued to recover in 2022, driven by a rebound in tourism and the services sector. In the first half of 2022, tourist arrivals were at about 70% of the 2019 level (in contrast to the 60% decline in 2020).\r\n\r\nGDP growth rebounded to 7.9% in 2021 and 9.5% in 2022, exceeding the East Africa averages of 4.7% and 4.4%. GDP growth is projected to slow to 5.1% in 2023 and 4.2% in 2024 amid global supply chain disruptions due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Monetary policy is projected to remain accommodative, and inflation is projected to rise to 4.3% in 2023 and 4.4% in 2024 on slower growth and higher import prices.\r\n

Sources: Who Owns Whom sector reports, CIA Factbook, African Development Bank, World Bank, Trading Economics, African Statistical Yearbook and IMF.