(Seychelles News Agency) - The rise in inflation by 11.25 percent from June 2020 to June 2021 is worrying, said a top government official on Thursday.  

The governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles, Caroline Abel, made the statement in a press conference in which she gave details regarding the Seychelles' economic situation.

Abel said that on average for the past 12 months, the inflation rate is 5.93 percent.

Inflation is the rate at which the value of a currency, in this case, the Seychelles Rupee is falling and, consequently, the general level of prices for goods and services is rising.

During her presentation, she also added that the prices of food and energy globally are on the rise, which will surely have an impact on local prices.

Abel said the current forecast suggests that the prices will drop going into the new year, but that could change as the COVID-19 situation continues to be unpredictable.

"For Seychelles, we are taking into account various external developments that could continue to affect our economy, such as the divergence in the speed of economic recovery across countries and region, incoming tourist from regions that were previously under strict restrictions and rising cases in certain regions," said Abel.

She added that Seychelles is also keeping a close eye on developments in South Africa and the effects on the country's tourism marker, as it is a country that brings in a large number of visitors.

During her presentation, the governor also spoke of the decrease in the number of people employed in Seychelles, along with a significant drop in average earning per employee.

During the first quarter of 2021, the average number of employed persons in all sectors was 49,923, which represented a decrease of 8.9 percent during the same period in 2020.

This is largely because many foreigners as well as Seychellois lost their jobs, as various workplaces looked to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the island nation in the western Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, the CBS governor has once more asked the nation to be more responsible with their spending, stating that a shift in individual and collective behaviour is critical for the Seychelles' economy to bounce back.