From Digital Services to Living Wages: What Seychelles’ $34 Million AfDB Loan Could Change

Seychelles’ $34 million AfDB loan backs the final phase of reforms to public services, business access and climate planning. Its impact will depend on whether those reforms create better services, more opportunities for firms and tangible gains for workers.

Seychelles' new $34 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) puts the country's economic reforms to a practical test: can stronger public finances and simpler government services create better conditions for businesses while improving opportunities for workers?

Approved on 22 September, the loan funds the third and final phase of the Economic Resilience and Green Recovery Support Programme. AfDB provided $25 million in each of the first two phases, in 2024 and 2025, bringing its total support to $84 million. The final phase covers public financial management, the business environment and climate resilience, alongside employment, skills and living wage reforms.

Early Gains Raise Expectations

The programme enters its final phase with reported progress. Business and other tax revenues increased from 6.4% of gross domestic product in 2023 to 8.2% in 2025. Digital public services grew by 10% between 2023 and 2024, while private sector credit growth reached 12.1% in 2024, exceeding the programme's target for 2026.

For policymakers, these figures provide a starting point rather than a final verdict. Higher revenue can give the government more room to fund services, but residents will judge whether those services become easier to access and more reliable. Similarly, faster credit growth matters most if businesses can use financing to invest, expand and create jobs.

The next challenge is to measure outcomes people can recognise: shorter processing times, clearer procedures and wider access to business services. Without those measures, it will be difficult to establish how far the reforms have changed everyday experience.

A Simpler Route for Businesses

A planned one-stop investment portal and Government Business Service Centre aim to make it easier for entrepreneurs and investors to find services and secure the approvals they need. If the systems reduce delays and uncertainty, smaller firms could benefit in particular: they often have less time and staff to devote to administrative processes.

The government also plans to introduce electronic invoicing and a national e-procurement system. Electronic invoicing could support tax compliance, while digital procurement could make public purchasing easier to track. Both reforms will require clear rules and systems that firms can use in practice.

For Seychelles' private sector, the opportunity is a more predictable operating environment. The risk is that new digital processes simply reproduce old bottlenecks online. Publishing information on approval times, service use and participation in public contracts would help businesses and policymakers assess whether access has improved.

Green Growth Moves Into the Planning Stage

The final phase places long-term electricity planning and marine spatial planning alongside economic reform. These decisions matter for a country whose businesses and communities depend on reliable infrastructure and the careful management of ocean resources.

Clearer plans could help public agencies coordinate investment and give businesses a better understanding of where future opportunities may lie. The programme also supports stronger regulation of hazardous chemicals and reforms to agricultural institutions, linking growth with environmental management and climate resilience.

Planning, however, is only the first step. Investors and development partners will want to see how priorities become funded projects, workable regulations and measurable results. For policymakers, that means setting out responsibilities and tracking implementation across agencies.

Workers Need to See the Benefits

Employment and skills reforms, together with the gradual introduction of a national living wage framework, could determine whether the programme's gains reach beyond government and business institutions. Better skills may help workers take up new opportunities, while wage reform is intended to bring earnings into the discussion about growth.

The impact will depend on details yet to be made clear, including how the living wage framework is designed and introduced. Employers will need time and certainty to plan; workers will want to know when and how the changes could affect their pay. Consultation and a clear timetable will be important to both.

For AfDB and other development partners, the final phase is an opportunity to assess whether sustained reform support delivers lasting improvements. For Seychelles, the stakes are closer to home. The loan will have fulfilled its wider purpose if residents can access better services, firms can operate and invest with fewer obstacles, and workers share more fully in the country's economic progress.