A new ATR for Madagascar Airlines
Madagascar Airlines welcomed a new ATR 72-500 to its fleet, April 2. A first new device of this type was received last December. The company now has five of these small carriers with 64 to 72 seats, which allow him to exploit his domestic network. Madagascar Airlines announces an average occupancy rate above 80%. For now, she does not communicate on the date of her return to international lines, particularly on the service to Reunion.
US customs duties : Madagascar holds its breath
The temporary suspension of dissuasive customs duties wanted by Donald Trump has not calmed the concerns of exporters of Malagasy products to the United States. The Big Island is indeed among the countries that the American president most wants to tax, on the grounds that the balance of trade between the two countries is clearly favorable to Madagascar. In 2024, Only $53 million worth of U.S. products entered Madagascar, conversely, 680 million dollars of Malagasy products left for the United States. Vanilla and textile top this list. If Donald Trump's threat is carried out, a real economic catastrophe is looming on the horizon of the Big Island. For a quarter of a century, Malagasy products benefit, like those of around thirty African countries, de l’African Growth Opportunity Act, which exempts them from customs duties upon entry into the American market. The Malagasy textile sector in the free zone represents 180,000 jobs.
Internal migrations on the rise
Between 1993 and 2008, internal migration in Madagascar increased by 163%, indicates a study recently published by the government. L'Androy, driest region in the south of the Big Island, lost more than 10% of its inhabitants during these fifteen years and the trend has certainly increased due to very unfavorable climatic conditions since the start of the current decade. The Menabe region (west, capital Morondava) is conversely the most attractive because of its agricultural potential. In fifteen years, it gained nearly 80,000 inhabitants (+11 %), mainly coming from the south of the Big Island. These migrations pose many economic problems, socio-cultural and environmental, which lead the authorities to put in place a national strategy to try to act on a phenomenon that is difficult to manage.
Starlink makes a gesture for Madagascar
Last March 28, the Starlink company signed a partnership agreement with the Malagasy Ministry of Digital Development, of Post and Telecommunications, with a view to strengthening the resources of the National Office for Risk and Disaster Management (BNGRC). Starlink offered 45 connection kits, which will facilitate connections with the areas most frequently affected by natural disasters. The kits will be deployed in the regional branches of the BNGRC.
Vanilla prices collapse
For over thirty years, the world price of vanilla is erratic, mainly due to the lack of regulation of Malagasy production, leading exporter of the precious pod. Prices sometimes flirt with peaks, approaching 700 dollars for a kilo of black vanilla, before collapsing. This is currently the case : the price of a kilo could fall to 20 dollars. According to the Malagasy government, 2,000 tonnes of pods are currently in overstock abroad, while annual global demand is estimated at 3,000 tonnes.
2,000 Malagasy people in Seychelles
The Malagasy diaspora is also present in Seychelles : it has nearly 2,000 nationals in the archipelago of 120,000 inhabitants. They work in many sectors, ranging from tourism to tuna cannery, through agriculture and education. The Malagasy people of Seychelles are grouped together in an association in the process of being recognized by the local authorities.
