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  MAURITIUS FSC PUBLISHES STATS
The Mauritius Financial Services Commission published earlier this year its statistics for Global Business Licences issued. The figures issued are for the cumulative total of Global Business licences issued as at 29th February 2004 and the evolution of those numbers over the last five years. The figures show a fall in the number of Global Business Licences issued for the third year running whilst the number of Global Fund licences issued during 2003 is twice that of 2002. Whilst these figures are some reflection of the level of activity in the Offshore Financial Services Sector, they do not show the whole picture. The view of our Mauritius contacts is that, whilst the number of incorporations has fallen, the quality of business has increased. Following the Indian Supreme Court ruling (October 2003), we expect the demand for GBL1 (tax treaty) Companies which are able to show real substance in Mauritius will increase. This is borne out by the number of licences for Global Funds and GBL1 issued in the first two months of this year which is running at about twice the level of last year.
The statistics as issued by FSC are as follows:
Cumulative total of Licences Issued
| As at 27 February 2004 |
| No. of GBC1 licensees (cum) |
7,081 |
| No. of GBC2 licensees (cum) |
15,643 |
| Total GBCs registered |
22,724 |
| No. of Management Companies |
80 |
| No. of Global Funds* |
285 |
| NAV (US$ billion) |
9.60 |
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