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Small Business (BC),
Vancouver, Canada |
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Background: |
Although known to Arab and
Malay sailors as early as the 10th century, Mauritius was first explored
by the Portuguese in 1505, it was subsequently held by the Dutch, French,
and British before independence was attained in 1968. A stable democracy
with regular free elections and a positive human rights record, the
country has attracted considerable foreign investment and has earned one
of Africa`s highest per capita incomes. Recent poor weather, declining
sugar prices, and declining textile and apparel production, have slowed
economic growth, leading to some protests over standards of living in the
Creole community. |
|
Country name: |
conventional long form:
Republic of Mauritius
conventional short form: Mauritius
local long form: Republic of Mauritius
local short
form: Mauritius |
|
Government type: |
parliamentary democracy |
|
Capital: |
name: Port Louis
geographic coordinates: 20 09 S, 57 29 E
time
difference: UTC+4 (9 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard
Time) |
|
Administrative divisions: |
9 districts and 3
dependencies*, Agalega Islands*, Black River, Cargados Carajos Shoals*,
Flacq, Grand Port, Moka, Pamplemousses, Plaines Wilhems, Port Louis,
Riviere du Rempart, Rodrigues*, Savanne |
|
Independence: |
12 March 1968 (from UK) |
|
National holiday: |
Independence Day, 12 March
(1968) |
|
Constitution: |
12 March 1968, amended 12 March
1992 |
|
Legal system: |
based on French civil law
system with elements of English common law in certain areas, accepts
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations |
|
Suffrage: |
18 years of age, universal
|
|
Executive branch: |
chief of state:
President Sir Anerood JUGNAUTH (since 7 October 2003), Vice President
Abdool Raouf BUNDHUN (since 25 February 2002)
head of
government: Prime Minister Navinchandra RAMGOOLAM (since 5 July 2005)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the
recommendation of the prime minister
elections: president and
vice president elected by the National Assembly for five-year terms
(eligible for a second term), election last held 25 February 2002 (next to
be held in May 2008), prime minister and deputy prime minister appointed
by the president, responsible to the National Assembly
election
results: Karl OFFMANN elected president and Raouf BUNDHUN elected vice
president, percent of vote by the National Assembly - NA%, note - Karl
OFFMANN stepped down on 30 September 2003 |
|
Legislative branch: |
unicameral National Assembly
(70 seats, 62 members elected by popular vote, 8 appointed by the election
commission to give representation to various ethnic minorities, to serve
five-year terms)
elections: last held on 3 July 2005 (next to
be held in 2010)
election results: percent of vote by party -
NA, seats by party - AS 38, MSM/MMM 22, OPR 2, appointed seats - AS 4,
MSM/MMM 2, OPR 2 |
|
Judicial branch: |
Supreme Court |
|
Political parties and leaders: |
Alliance Sociale or AS
[Navinchandra RAMGOOLAM] (governing coalition - includes MLD, MMSM, MR,
MSD, PMXD), Mauritian Labor Party or MLP [Navinchandra RAMGOOLAM],
Mauritian Militant Movement or MMM [Paul BERENGER], Mauritian Socialist
Militant Movement or MMSM [Madan DOLLOO], Militant Socialist Movement or
MSM [Nando BODHA], Mouvement Republicain or MR [Jayarama VALAYDEN], Parti
Mauricien Xavier Duval or PMXD [Xavier Luc DUVAL], Rodrigues Movement or
MR [Joseph (Nicholas) Von MALLY], Rodrigues Peoples Organization or OPR
[Serge CLAIR] |
|
Political pressure groups and leaders: |
various labor unions |
|
International organization participation: |
ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, C, COMESA,
FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO,
IMF, IMO, IMSO, InOC, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA,
NAM, OIF, OPCW, PCA, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCL,
WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO |
|
Diplomatic representation in the US: |
chief of mission:
Ambassador Usha JEETAH
chancery: 4301 Connecticut Avenue NW,
Suite 441, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 244-1491,
1492
FAX: [1] (202) 966-0983 |
|
Diplomatic representation from the US: |
chief of mission:
Ambassador Cesar CABRERA
embassy: 4th Floor, Rogers House, John
Kennedy Street, Port Louis
mailing address: international mail:
P. O. Box 544, Port Louis, US mail: American Embassy, Port Louis, US
Department of State, Washington, DC 20521-2450
telephone: [230]
202-4400
FAX: [230] 208-9534 |
|
Flag description: |
four equal horizontal bands of
red (top), blue, yellow, and green |
|
Economy - overview: |
Since independence in 1968,
Mauritius has developed from a low-income, agriculturally based economy to
a middle-income diversified economy with growing industrial, financial,
and tourist sectors. For most of the period, annual growth has been in the
order of 5% to 6%. This remarkable achievement has been reflected in more
equitable income distribution, increased life expectancy, lowered infant
mortality, and a much-improved infrastructure. The economy rests on sugar,
tourism, textiles and apparel, and financial services, and is expanding
into fish processing, information and communications technology, and
hospitality and property development. Sugarcane is grown on about 90% of
the cultivated land area and accounts for 15% of export earnings. The
government`s development strategy centers on creating vertical and
horizontal clusters of development in these sectors. Mauritius has
attracted more than 32,000 offshore entities, many aimed at commerce in
India, South Africa, and China. Investment in the banking sector alone has
reached over $1 billion. Mauritius, with its strong textile sector, has
been well poised to take advantage of the Africa Growth and Opportunity
Act (AGOA). |
|
GDP (purchasing power parity): |
$14.9 billion (2007 est.)
|
|
GDP (official exchange rate): |
$7.03 billion (2007 est.)
|
|
GDP - real growth rate: |
5.6% (2007 est.) |
|
GDP - per capita (PPP): |
$11,900 (2007 est.) |
|
GDP - composition by sector: |
agriculture: 4.8%
industry: 25%
services: 70.1% (2007 est.) |
|
Labor force: |
552,700 (2007 est.) |
|
Labor force - by occupation: |
agriculture and fishing 9%,
construction and industry 30%, transportation and communication 7%, trade,
restaurants, hotels 22%, finance 6%, other services 25% (2007) |
|
Unemployment rate: |
8.8% (2007 est.) |
|
Population below poverty line: |
8% (2006 est.) |
|
Household income or consumption by percentage
share: |
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
|
Distribution of family income - Gini index: |
39 (2006 est.) |
|
Inflation rate (consumer prices): |
8.8% (2007 est.) |
|
Investment (gross fixed): |
23.4% of GDP (2007 est.) |
|
Budget: |
revenues: $1.34 billion
expenditures: $1.642 billion, including capital expenditures of
$NA (2007 est.) |
|
Public debt: |
59.9% of GDP (2007 est.) |
|
Agriculture - products: |
sugarcane, tea, corn, potatoes,
bananas, pulses, cattle, goats, fish |
|
Industries: |
food processing (largely sugar
milling), textiles, clothing, mining, chemicals, metal products, transport
equipment, nonelectrical machinery, tourism |
|
Industrial production growth rate: |
4.7% (2007 est.) |
|
Electricity - production: |
2.35 billion kWh (2006) |
|
Electricity - production by source: |
fossil fuel: 90.8%
hydro: 9.2%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
|
|
Electricity - consumption: |
2.068 billion kWh (2006) |
|
Electricity - exports: |
0 kWh (2006) |
|
Electricity - imports: |
0 kWh (2006) |
|
Oil - production: |
0 bbl/day (2006 est.) |
|
Oil - consumption: |
23,650 bbl/day (2006 est.)
|
|
Oil - exports: |
0 bbl/day (2006) |
|
Oil - imports: |
23,650 bbl/day (2006) |
|
Oil - proved reserves: |
0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)
|
|
Natural gas - production: |
0 cu m (2005 est.) |
|
Natural gas - consumption: |
0 cu m (2005 est.) |
|
Natural gas - exports: |
0 cu m (2005 est.) |
|
Natural gas - imports: |
0 cu m (2005) |
|
Natural gas - proved reserves: |
0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)
|
|
Current account balance: |
-$552 million (2007 est.)
|
|
Exports: |
$2.475 billion f.o.b. (2007
est.) |
|
Exports - commodities: |
clothing and textiles, sugar,
cut flowers, molasses, fish |
|
Exports - partners: |
UK 32.5%, France 15.1%, UAE
11.4%, US 8.3%, Madagascar 4.8% (2006) |
|
Imports: |
$3.627 billion f.o.b. (2007
est.) |
|
Imports - commodities: |
manufactured goods, capital
equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products, chemicals |
|
Imports - partners: |
France 14.3%, India 13.6%,
China 8.6%, South Africa 7.3% (2006) |
|
Economic aid - recipient: |
$31.93 million (2005) |
|
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: |
$1.772 billion (31 December
2007 est.) |
|
Debt - external: |
$2.583 billion (31 December
2007 est.) |
|
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: |
$NA |
|
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: |
$NA |
|
Market value of publicly traded shares: |
$5.7 billion (2007) |
|
Currency (code): |
Mauritian rupee (MUR) |
|
Currency code: |
MUR |
|
Exchange rates: |
Mauritian rupees per US dollar
- 31.798 (2007), 31.656 (2006), 29.496 (2005), 27.499 (2004), 27.902
(2003) |
|
Fiscal year: |
1 July - 30 June
|
|
Telephones - main lines in use: |
357,300 (2006) |
|
Telephones - mobile cellular: |
772,400 (2006) |
|
Telephone system: |
general assessment:
small system with good service
domestic: monopoly over
fixed-line services terminated in 2005, fixed-line teledensity roughly 30
per 100 persons, mobile-cellular services launched in 1989 with
teledensity in 2006 exceeding 60 per 100 persons
international:
country code - 230, landing point for the SAFE submarine cable that
provides links to Asia and South Africa where it connects to the
SAT-3/WASC submarine cable that provides further links to parts of East
Africa, and Europe, satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean),
new microwave link to Reunion, HF radiotelephone links to several
countries |
|
Radio broadcast stations: |
AM 4, FM 9, shortwave 0 (2001)
|
|
Radios: |
420,000 (1997) |
|
Television broadcast stations: |
2 (plus several repeaters)
(1997) |
|
Televisions: |
258,000 (1997) |
|
Internet country code: |
.mu |
|
Internet hosts: |
9,792 (2007) |
|
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): |
2 (2000) |
|
Internet users: |
182,000 (2006) |
|
Airports: |
5 (2007) |
|
Airports - with paved runways: |
total: 2
over
3,047 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2007) |
|
Airports - with unpaved runways: |
total: 3
914 to
1,523 m: 2
under 914 m: 1 (2007) |
|
Roadways: |
total: 2,020 km
paved: 2,020 km (includes 75 km of expressways) (2005) |
|
Merchant marine: |
total: 5 ships (1000 GRT
or over) 19,417 GRT/19,700 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 2,
passenger/cargo 2, refrigerated cargo 1
foreign-owned: 2 (India
2) (2007) |
|
Ports and terminals: |
Port Louis |
|
Disputes - international: |
Mauritius claims the Chagos
Archipelago (UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory), and its
former inhabitants, who reside chiefly in Mauritius, claims
French-administered Tromelin Island |
|
Illicit drugs: |
consumer and transshipment
point for heroin from South Asia, small amounts of cannabis produced and
consumed locally, significant offshore financial industry creates
potential for money laundering, but corruption levels are relatively low
and the government appears generally to be committed to regulating its
banking industry |
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