Section 2: Interpretation

2. Interpretation In this Act— “Bank” means the Bank of Mauritius established under the Bank of Mauritius Act; “Bond” means a document incurring long-term debt, which— (a) in the case of an initial issue of the Bond, has a maturity date of 5 years or more from the date of its issue; or (b) in the case of a re-issue of the Bond, has a maturity date which may be less than the maturity period of its initial issue; “cash equivalent” means investments, other than those in shares and units, which are readily convertible to known amounts of cash and are subject to an insignificant risk of changes in value; “central government”— (a) means all Ministries and Departments of the Government; and (b) includes— (i) entities operating social security schemes; and (ii) agencies responsible for the performance of specialised governmental functions and operating under the authority of the Government and which are funded by transfers from the budget and by raising of funds independently; P47A – 1 [Issue 7] Public Debt Management Act “certificated securities” means securities issued in bearer or registered form and evidenced by certificates; “control”, in relation to Government-controlled, means having an effective influence in the main aspects of management; “fiscal year” has the same meaning as in the Finance and Audit Act; “general government” means the central government, regional government and local government; “Government” means all Ministries and Departments of the Government; “Government securities” means Treasury bills, Treasury notes, Bonds or Sovereign Sukuks issued by way of certificated securities or uncertificated securities; “guarantee” means the guarantee referred to in section 8; “international financial organisation” means— (a) the Association, Bank, Corporation or Fund referred to in the International Financial Organisations Act; or (b) such other body as the Minister may prescribe; “issuer” means the agent or his sub-agent responsible for issuing Government securities to investors; “local government” means the Municipal City Councils, Municipal Town Councils, District Councils and Village Councils set up under the Local Government Act and which exercise an independent competence as government units; “Minister” means the Minister to whom responsibility for the subject of finance is assigned; “own”, in relation to Government-owned, means having all or a majority of the shares or other forms of capital participation; “public enterprise” means any institution providing goods and services to the public which is either Government-owned or Governmentcontrolled, which may be engaged in either the financial or non-financial sector and which is either entirely or majority-owned or otherwise controlled by Government or by any other public institution; “public sector” means the central government, regional government, local government and all public enterprises; “regional government” means the Rodrigues Regional Assembly established under the Rodrigues Regional Assembly Act; “social security schemes”— (a) means schemes set up or established, controlled or financed by public authorities for the purpose of providing social security benefits for the community; and [Issue 7] P47A – 2 Revised Laws of Mauritius (b) includes— (i) the National Pension Fund established under the National Pensions Act; and (ii) the National Savings Fund established under the National Savings Fund Act; “Treasury bill” means a document incurring short-term debt, which has a m onal Assembly Act; “social security schemes”— (a) means schemes set up or established, controlled or financed by public authorities for the purpose of providing social security benefits for the community; and [Issue 7] P47A – 2 Revised Laws of Mauritius (b) includes— (i) the National Pension Fund established under the National Pensions Act; and (ii) the National Savings Fund established under the National Savings Fund Act; “Treasury bill” means a document incurring short-term debt, which has a maturity date of 12 months or less from the date of its issue; “Treasury note” means a document incurring medium-term debt, which has a maturity date of more than 12 months and less than 5 years from the date of its issue; “uncertificated securities” means securities issued as bookkeeping entries pursuant to a book entry system established by the Ministry. [S. 2 amended by s. 34 (a) of Act 14 of 2009 w.e.f. 30 July 2009; s. 165 (14) of Act 36 of 2011 w.e.f. 15 December 2011; s. 42 (a) of Act 9 of 2015 w.e.f. 14 May 2015.]