After a deficit of €103.2 million in 2020, the Principality’s public finances are once again in the black, with the 2021 fiscal year showing a revenue surplus of around €8 million, largely thanks to VAT.
After eight consecutive years of surpluses from 2012 to 2019, the pandemic year of 2020 put Monaco’s public finances dismally in the red. By the following year, though, the picture was looking rosier, with the Principality showing an €8 million surplus, according to the latest report by statistics group IMSEE.
While this figure is far from the high growth pre-pandemic years, it shows that the building blocks are there for further improvements in the current year.
The 2021 picture resulted from strong growth in revenue alongside a €280.3 million decrease in expenditure, equalling a drop of roughly 22%.
At last year’s end, revenue amounts sat at €1.8 billion, an increase of 3.9%, or €66.7 million on the previous year. The rise came primarily from tax revenues, which were up by €34.2 million, as well as from commercial transactions and from yields and incomes from the state’s domain, which were up €33.3 million.
Value-added tax, known more commonly as VAT, accounted for almost half the budget revenue for 2021, followed by state-owned real estate at 13.4%, legal transactions at 11.3%, interest from securities and bank interest at 10.4%, and then smaller percentages from customs duties, commercial profit, government operated monopolies and other revenue making up the rest.
By the end of December 2021, the assets of the Constitutional Reserve Fund sat at €6.4 billion and include a gold reserve of about €295 million, liquid assets of €2.5 billion made up of financial investments and bank balances, and illiquid assets of €3.6 billion comprised primarily of real estate, which accounts for €1.9 billion of that number. The value of the government-owned buildings rose 10.1% in 2021 and the rise is credited to acquisitions, sales and transactions, such as rentals, carried out.
Other non-liquid assets include shares in SBM and other companies with direct ties to the state, such as Société Monégasque de l’Électricité et du Gaz (SMEG), Société Monégasque des Eaux (SMEUAX), the Grimaldi Forum, and the Ports of Monaco. These add up to approximately €1.2 billion of the total.
All too often for Charles Leclerc in recent weeks, the chequered flag has heralded commiserations rather than champagne. Ferrari’s latest strategic error at Silverstone leaves the Monégasuqe in a precarious position.
Leclerc headed into the British Grand Prix declaring that he needed a “perfect weekend” to get his title challenge back on-track. With just over 10 laps remaining on Sunday, it looked like Leclerc would get just that. Despite suffering front-wing damage to his single-seater Ferrari on the first-lap, his race pace was unparalleled.
Meanwhile, further back, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull was limping its way to just a smattering of points. Having run over debris after snatching the lead from Carlos Sainz, the reigning world champion damaged his floor and received a puncture.
When he emerged from his emergency pit-stop, it was clear that the Dutchman wouldn’t be competing for the podium places. Prior to the late safety car, brought out by a mechanical failure to Esteban Ocon’s Alpine, Verstappen was clinging onto ninth position. At that point, the points swing in Leclerc’s favour would have been 23, but after the latest chapter in Ferrari’s novel of strategic hiccups, the Monégasuqe driver only closed the gap by a mere six points. Leclerc therefore remains third in the championship and 43 points adrift of Verstappen.
It is another opportunity missed, and with a performative Red Bull and an improving Mercedes, he can’t count on having too many more. For his part, Leclerc can hardly do much more. Since errors in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and then a litany of errors whilst attempting to catch Verstappen in Miami, Leclerc has driven impeccably.
However, that hasn’t manifested itself in race wins. As it stands, Leclerc hasn’t stood upon the top step of the podium since the Australian Grand Prix in April, whilst he hasn’t touched the podium since Miami in April. That record isn’t a reflection on Leclerc, but on the reliability of his machinery and the incompetence of the strategists.
Arguably, Leclerc is producing the best racing of his career. In the dying laps at Silverstone, having been left a sitting duck on his worn hard tyres, Leclerc defended impeccably from Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton, who had the pace on their fresh sets of softs. Even when he looked defeated, Leclerc pulled off one of the overtakes of the season on Hamilton as he went around the outside of the Brit at Stowe corner.
Although it will likely make the highlights reel of Leclerc’s greatest overtakes, it was ultimately in vain. There was no resisting the charging Mercedes. To have held onto fourth position was an achievement in itself. The blame, as it did in Monaco, rests solely on the shoulders of his Ferrari team.
Charles Leclerc with Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto, photo courtesy Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
Post-race, Leclerc was pictured in discussion with Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto; from the photographic evidence, it was seemingly a frank, intense discussion. Such conversations should have looked very different and should have taken place just prior to the Monégasque driver making the journey up to the podium. Instead, Leclerc and Binotto crossed paths on their way back to the paddock, the latter once again offering commiserations, whilst the former should have been savouring the champagne-flavoured taste of victory with another winners’ trophy added to his cabinet.
Rumours surrounding the nature of the discussion proliferated upon the release of the images. Leclerc put them to bed, revealing, “He wanted to get my morale back up”. Race victories have a greater effect than words in achieving that goal.
But Leclerc hardly needs a pep-talk, rather it is on his team to deliver. Asked about his team’s mistakes in recent races, he replied, “It’s not good. I have to say that I feel like I’m showing that every race it’s not affecting me too much. But I would rather not have these problems.”
As the season has progressed, there has been a reversal in doubt. Leclerc’s performances in Spain, Canada and England in particular have extinguished doubts as to whether he is world champion material. Blessed with the best car on the grid, it is now the pit wall that is being called into question. Can they capitalise on the great work done in the factory to deliver their lead driver a title for the first time since Kimi Räikkönen in 2007?
Charles Leclerc at the British GP, photo courtesy Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
With increasing regularity, Binotto’s post-race comments accrue greater importance and attention, and Silverstone was no different. On Sunday he said, “I knew that he (Leclerc) was disappointed and frustrated, which is understandable as he clearly led the race and was at ease at the moment at which the safety car was deployed. What I told him is that: you did a great race once again because you had a fantastic first lap where you battled. Then after the restart of the race following the safety car, the way that he drove and protected his position was surprising and exceptional. So, I told him to stay calm because his driving was fantastic.”
A sign of a healthy team situation is one where the team principal’s comments aren’t scrutinised, mediatised or just generally so significant. Whilst it is easy to ask Leclerc to “stay calm”, the act itself is being made more and more difficult, as the title slips out of reach due to circumstances beyond his control.
However, it isn’t too late to arrest the slide. Binotto said that Leclerc was “once again unlucky” on Sunday. But the sooner the team accepts its own agency in manufacturing that misfortune, the sooner Ferrari can learn from the mistakes made in past races and endow their lead driver with the strategic nouse befitting a driver of such talent. Should they do so, Leclerc could yet chain together a string of those elusive “perfect weekends”, claw back those lost points and posit himself once more as a genuine title-contender.
Photo courtesy Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
CSM study points to migration of Mediterranean fish
A new report by the Scientific Centre of Monaco shows that global warming will impact the number of fish living in the Mediterranean over the next century, sending many of the most common species consumed locally to northern EU waters.
The United Nations Ocean Summit has just wrapped up in Lisbon, with sustainable fishing taking front and centre at many of the debates. At the same time, the Scientific Centre of Monaco (CSM), in partnership with the ECOSEAS laboratory of the Côte d’Azur University, the Oceanographic Laboratory of Villefranche-sur-Mer, the National Museum of Natural History and the University of Littoral Côte d’Opale at Wimereux, released a scientific study highlighting the need to look at the impact of global warming on the distribution of fish being caught in local waters.
The report found that temperature is a major factor when it comes to regulating where species live and proliferate. As the seas grow warmer, many species common to the local waters of the Med, in particular those consumed for food, will start to migrate to cooler waters. This may not seem to be a huge deal, but for local fisheries, this shift will need to be taken into account in order to adapt.
The study, financed by the Prince Albert II Foundation, looked at the most likely evolution of the food fish of the Mediterranean, namely red mullet, common hake, white hake, sole, the common pageot, monkfish, sea bass, and gilthead seabream.
These fish represent just over 30% of the value of Mediterranean fisheries. The study used a modelling approach to estimate the current and future range of these eight economically viable fish species.
Using projections of changes in the climate under three scenarios over the course of the 21st century, it is likely there will be far fewer of these types of fish found in local waters as the models show them migrating to northern European coasts.
Of course, nothing is certain on this front, but the report does give fisheries a chance to rethink their way of working and anticipate the changes to mitigate the negative economic impact.
This report, the Scientific Centre says, will soon be followed by an economic impact study.
With smoking now banned on Monaco’s beaches, the Mairie is taking its anti-cigarette butt campaign to the wider community, offering free pocket ashtrays to pedestrians in busy hotspots throughout the Principality.
The Mairie has once again joined forces with the Société Monégasque d’Assainissement (SMA) and the Direction du Tourisme et des Congrès (DTC) to raise awareness among residents and tourists on the fight against environmental pollution, particularly cigarette butts.
Last year, the Prince’s Government announced that smoking was banned on the Principality’s beaches during the entire summer season, eliminating the need for self-service ashtrays displays that had become a mainstay during the busy months.
So, the operation has been expanded to the entire Principality, with SMA and DTC teams handing out the pocket ashtrays to people on the beaches, the ‘Solarium’ sun deck area and in Monaco-Ville.
The pocket ashtrays will also be available to the public in several tourism points including information desks, the SMEG/SMA shop on rue Guillaume Apollinaire, and at municipal sites such as the Media Library and the Rainier III swimming pool.
“Through this operation, which extends beyond the seaside areas, the Mairie and its partners wish to make the population more widely aware of the need to keep our city clean and to continue to alert them to the impact of cigarette butts on the environment,” it said in a statement.
Monaco has sent Frédéric Labarrere to Belgium where King Philippe accepted his letters of credence for his new role as ambassador to the country.
On 29th June, the new Ambassador of the Principality of Monaco to the Kingdom of Belgium, Frédéric Labarrere, presented his Letters of Credence to His Majesty King Philippe, King of the Belgians.
The official ceremony was held in the beautiful salons of the Royal Palace in Brussels and was followed by a formal private meeting between the King and the new Ambassador.
The meeting touched on topics ranging from international geopolitical news, Monaco’s negotiations with the European Union, the major works in the Principality, and the commitment of Prince Albert II to environmental protection.
Ambassador Labarrere assured King Philippe of his commitment to maintaining and growing the ties between the two nations, which already have a solid base stretching back many years.
Labarrere has been Monaco’s representative in Germany and Poland and has also served as Monaco’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and International Organisations in Vienna.
Photo: His Majesty King Philippe, King of the Belgians, and Frédéric Labarrere, courtesy Royal Palace of Belgium
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