The good governance efforts undertaken within the Ministry of Economy and Finance continue to bear fruit.

Renewed vitality. Ariary is starting 2021 with good prospects. The Malagasy currency is stabilizing and even appreciating against the dollar. On the interbank currency market, yesterday, the euro was at 4,580 ariary against 4,511 ariary at the beginning of the year, i.e. a very slight depreciation of 19 points. On the other hand, against the dollar, which is the currency with which the vast majority of Madagascar's trade is conducted, the ariary appreciates. The dollar was at 3,822 ariary yesterday, against 3,905 ariary at the beginning of the year, a gain of 83 points in less than a month. In any case, looking at the currency curve of Banky Foiben'i Madagasikara, the ariary has recently shown reassuring

Good prospects. At the origin of this situation, which bodes well for the future of the Malagasy currency, lies, among other things, the good policy adopted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance with regard to the repatriation of currencies. Which has seen a marked improvement in recent years. In 2020, for example, out of an expired commitment of more than 5,000 billion ariary, around 4.370 billion ariary were repatriated, representing a repatriation rate of 86%. And again, this is a provisional figure that is expected to improve since the repatriation period being 90 days, companies are still continuing to repatriate currently. In short, the repatriation rate will well exceed 90% at the end of the period. This is a good performance when you consider that this year, due to the health crisis, relaxation measures have been decided in favor of

SIG-OC. This good performance is explained by the efficiency of the new system put in place since 2017. In this case, this is the Integrated Foreign Exchange Management System (SIG-OC), which the Ministry of Economy and Finance carefully applies. The SIG-OC consists of the computerization and automation of the process of processing currency files and aims at good governance and management transparency. Indeed, previously, operations were done manually with paper supports and file exchanges. This was obviously very cumbersome for the more than 100,000 domiciliations to be processed each year. This burden is no longer appropriate with the SIG-OC whose advantages include, among other things, allowing the administration to have better traceability and better monitoring of the evolution of foreign exchange transactions. It also facilitates the detection of violations of foreign exchange regulations.

Rigor. But the economic advantage is obviously this improvement in the repatriation of currencies. Indeed, since repatriated currencies must be transferred to the MID, this leads to an increase in foreign exchange offers and therefore the possibility of an appreciation of the ariary. Hence, this current trend towards the stability of the Malagasy currency. In short, the rigor shown by the current authorities in regulating exchange rates plays a significant role in stabilizing the ariary. On the subject of rigor, the current administration stands out for its new attitude towards operators who violate foreign exchange regulations. In agreement with the government, the Minister of Economy and Finance has recently filed complaints against companies liable to offend foreign exchange regulations. This rigor is not indiscriminate, however, since relaxation measures are planned for bona fide operators