Seychelles fisheries

In 1770 French settled in Seychelles and set up plantations using African slaves to produce cotton, sugar, rice, and maize. When the British took control of the island during the Napoleonic wars, they left the French upper class alone. The plantation sector continued without interruption. Even after the British prohibited slavery in 1835, slavery continued in Seychelles and plantations continued to thrive.

When the international airport opened, tourism became a serious industry, basically dividing the economy into plantations and tourism. After this, the plantation economy saw a slow decline and became negligible. After Seychelles became independent in 1976, per capita output expanded to roughly seven times the old near-subsistence level. Economic growth was led by the tourist sector, which employed about 30% of the labor force and provided more than 70% of hard currency earnings, followed by tuna fishing. The government encouraged foreign investment to upgrade hotels and upgrade tourism infrastructure. Seychelles adopted a command economy to sustain growth.

Government has a widespread presence in the economy of the nation. Today the economy of Seychelles is based on fishing, tourism, processing of coconuts and vanilla, coir (coconut fiber) rope, boat building, printing, furniture, and beverages. Agricultural products include cinnamon, sweet potatoes, tapioca, bananas, poultry, and tuna. These products support the locals economically. The main export commodities are frozen and canned fish, copra, cinnamon, and vanilla.

COVID-19 (coronavirus) had a devastating effect on the economy. Tourism declined by more than 60%. Economic growth declined significantly from 3.9% in 2019 to -13.5% in 2020. The fiscal deficit widened to 22.6% in 2020 on account of lower revenues and higher COVID-19-related spending and is projected to be 15.3% in 2021.