đź“· Photo: Dino Sassi / Marcel Fayon, Photo Eden LTD, via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
VICTORIA, Seychelles —
the World Bank will release a Seychelles Growth and Jobs Report in September 2026, the institution’s new Division Director for the Indian Ocean portfolio, Fily Sissoko, told President Patrick Herminie during his inaugural courtesy call at State House on Thursday morning, July 9.
The report, the World Bank confirmed during the meeting, will set out the reforms and investments needed to keep Seychelles on a trajectory that, in Herminie’s words to the visiting delegation, would make the country “the leading country in Africa in the next 20 to 25 years.” Sissoko, who took up the post on July 1, 2025, oversees a 63-project portfolio worth 8.5 billion US dollars across Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros and Seychelles, according to the World Bank’s announcement of his appointment.
Sissoko framed the courtesy call as both an introduction and an expression of gratitude. He told journalists afterwards that the World Bank had just completed the Seychelles Growth and Jobs Report and would disseminate it in September as a knowledge product to guide Seychelles’ reform agenda. The report will identify which investments and policy changes are required to deliver the President’s stated vision of jobs and economic opportunities for Seychellois through higher productivity, alongside an economy that is more resilient, competitive and innovative.
President Herminie set the political terms of the partnership in the meeting. Sissoko, speaking to the media afterwards, said Seychelles has spent three decades proving that small states can lead Africa by building quality institutions, achieving exceptional growth and posting the highest human-capital index on the continent, according to the World Bank’s Seychelles country page. The task now, in Sissoko’s reading of the President’s remarks, is to translate those foundations into a future in which Seychelles can “reinvent itself” as the continent’s leading country over the next two and a half decades.
The Growth and Jobs Report lands in a policy environment already shaped by the World Bank’s Country Climate and Development Report for Seychelles, released on March 27, 2026. The CCDR warned that without action, climate-related pressures could reduce Seychelles’ GDP by more than six percent by 2050, and proposed reorienting tourism and fisheries towards higher value and greater resilience, scaling renewable energy to cut electricity costs by around 20 percent, and reinforcing fiscal and institutional foundations. The September study is expected to build on those findings with a sharper focus on labour-market policy and private-sector job creation.
Also present at the courtesy call were the secretary of state for Finance, Economic Planning, Trade and Investment, Patrick Payet, and the First Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles, Brian Commettant, signalling that the September report will inform the macroeconomic framework rather than remain a stand-alone analytical exercise.
Sissoko cautioned that effective implementation will be the binding constraint on turning the report’s recommendations into long-term growth. The Seychelles Macro Poverty Outlook published by the Bank earlier this year projects GDP growth of around 5.8 percent in 2025 driven by record tourism, then a moderation to about 1.1 percent in 2026 as visitor arrivals normalise, with structural challenges including a youth NEET rate of around 16 percent despite headline unemployment of roughly 2.6 percent. The September report is intended to map how Seychelles closes that gap.
Sources cited: World Bank Group, “World Bank Group Appoints New Division Director for AFE: Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, and Seychelles” (press release, 1 July 2025). https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2025/07/01/world-bank-group-appoints-new-division-director-for-afe-mozambique-madagascar-mauritius-comoros-and-seychelles. World Bank Group, Seychelles country overview. https://www.worldbank.org/ext/en/country/seychelles. World Bank Group, “Smart, Resilient Investments Key to Jobs and Growth in Seychelles, New World Bank Group Report Finds” (press release, 27 March 2026). https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2026/03/27/smart-resilient-investments-key-to-jobs-and-growth-in-seychelles-new-world-bank-group-report-finds.
Source: SN
