‘Productive and positive mission to Seychelles,’ says TDB |29 September 2022

Mr Tadasse, flanked by Seychelles’ Minister for Finance, National Planning and Trade, Naadir Hassan and Central Bank Governor, Caroline Abel. On the far right is Daniel Lam Chun, coverage executive, Indian Ocean-Lusophone Africa

• Now seeking prospective clients

The Trade and Development Bank has said the bank’s official mission to Seychelles has been a productive and a positive experience and it looks forward to continued partnership with the country.

The bank’s President Emeritus, Admassu Tadesse, made the statement during a press conference at the Trade department, at Maison Esplanade, after several days in Seychelles.

He said that since the country was one of the shareholders of the regional financial institution, the visit was in line with their responsibility and continued support for the Seychelles’ development and its transformation.

During their stay, the four-member delegation had several engagements with their clients, partners and government officials.

The team also witnessed one of its clients, Cable and Wireless (Seychelles) Limited, listing its shares on the MERJ Exchange market earlier this week.

According to Mr Tadesse, they also managed to follow up discussions with several current clients and prospective ones on various projects on the bank’s development plan, as well as the private sector interests.

“The bank has had a very positive experience with Seychelles and the mission has been a very productive and stimulating few days. We’ve had our hands full and had very productive engagements,” said Mr Tadesse.

According to him, the bank TDB has been associated with various projects in the country, mostly tourism-related, as well as the infrastructure sector specifically telecommunications.

TDB said going forward, it plans to look at other subsectors of infrastructure, supporting the SME sector and the social infrastructure as well as property real estate, and housing.

Mr Tadasse said the bank has already been associated with some very successful property development projects in the country that had supported the economy, created jobs and supported the tax base of the country.

TDB was now looking at all dimensions of housing from affordable housing as well as touristic and investment related housing.

“We feel there’s an opportunity to also get involved in housing as well so that is why we continue to be positive about that sector. We have not yet made any specific commitments but we are positive about it and looking to see what can be done,” he added.

The health sector is another area where he said the financial institution will focus on.

“We know that the health care centre is something that the president is passionate about. We have a mandate to support the health care projects as well so we are looking also at that sector to see how we can help fulfill that side of the development agenda of Seychelles,” said Mr Tadasse.

The bank has also praised Seychelles for considering capital market as a way to diversify its economy.

Mr Tadasse said this was a useful and important part of the development as it makes big contributions and diversifies access to finance, which is very important for the private sector.

“Banks have a good role to play but it’s very healthy for capital markets to be part of the equation. It’s another way of strengthening the economic landscape,” he said.

According to the bank’s president, the institution has invested hundreds of millions of US dollars into the Seychelles economy since its inception 35 years ago to date.

He said the institution was satisfied that the country had recovered quickly from the Covid-19 pandemic, including its tourism sector which was faring well.

“Seychelles has always been a very good member state for us, a country that respects its obligations, and a country that participates fully in the bank and so of course we find it very productive to do business here,” said Mr Tadasse.

It should be noted that earlier this week the TDB team also met with the Head of State to discuss several issues.

The delegation left the country yesterday.

Admassu Tadesse has been the president and chief executive of TDB (formerly trading as PTA Bank), the Eastern and Southern Africa Trade and Development Bank, since his appointment in 2011.

He is presently based in Mauritius.

Patsy Canaya

Photo credits: Ministry of Finance, National Planning & Trade