p  Home   p  About us   p  Mission Statement  p  Group Structure   p  Our Services   p  Our Products   p  Mauritius   p  Contact us

MAURITIUS:   p Mauritian Economy p Advantages of operating in Mauritius p Mauritius Fiscal Incentive p Mauritius Legislation
                     p Mauritius International Financial Centre p Double Taxation Avoidance Treaties

Ever since gaining independence from Britain in 1968 the economy of Mauritius has grown steadily at around 5% annually. Sugar was and is a dominant crop, and still accounts for more than a third of export earnings. There are growing industrial, services, and tourist sectors. An export processing zone set up in 1970 has been successful, particularly in garment manufacture. The financial services industry has been a more recent Government-inspired initiative, but is now developing strongly. According to the CIA World Fact book the GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) of Mauritius is $17.02 billion (2006 est.), with the GDP, real growth rate being 5% (2006 est.). The unemployment rate is 9.4% (2006 est.).

The Mauritian currency is the Rupee (MUR). Exchange controls were dismantled in stages between 1984 – 1994, the exchange rate at date of publishing was US $1 = MUR  29.57. Investors are still required to demonstrate the source of funds to be repatriated, and must be up to date with local taxation.

The Island Republic has a good labour relations record and productivity has shown a 5% annual increase since 1994. Training and service quality are regarded as important; many Mauritian firms have adopted ISO 9001. Financial and professional services are well represented and a successful stock exchange was opened in 1989.

Most recently Mauritius has topped the first annual Ibrahim Index of African Governance, prepared and compiled by Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, by being rated as the best run country in Africa, out of a total of 48 countries surveyed. Mauritius was followed by Seychelles, Botswana, Cape Verde and South Africa. The criteria used in the rating, including security, human rights, economic stability, just laws, free elections, corruption, infrastructure, poverty and health.

In addition to the African Governance survey, Mauritius has also recently been rated as the 27th easiest country to do business in, out of a total of 178 economies surveyed.

© 2007 Inter-Ocean Management Limited l A division of the Inter-Ocean Group l Disclaimer l Web design by The Chameleon Group