Economic Governance and Management
Chapter 4
number of policy initiatives and operational mechanisms. The
partnership between the private sector and civil society reinforces the
actions of the government and ensures social dialogue that promotes
sound policy making in economic governance. Mauritius’s progress
regarding development has been appreciable and commendable,
despite some challenges, for the last three decades.
435.
Chapter 4
Economic Governance and Management
trade. These four sectors contribute more than 10 per cent each and
some 57 per cent of GDP. The outputs of public and private services
are more important than the production of goods in Mauritius’s GDP
structure. The structure has not changed significantly since 2007.
Figure 4.1: GDP by sector (2007)
Table 4.3 presents the sectoral contribution to GDP and some
macroeconomic aggregates. The share of the sugar industry is
declining. However, the share of the textile sector, after a drastic
decline, is increasing. This makes it a major contributor to GDP
in Mauritius, along with finance, construction and tourism. The
Mauritian economy recovered between 2006 and 2008. It recorded a
GDP of above 5 per cent (see the social and economic indicators table
in the front part of this report), but it is expected to decline to 2.7 per
cent in 2009.
Table 4.3: Real GDP indicators 30
Unit
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Percentage
4.4
4.8
2.3
5.0
5.4
Sugar
Percentage
3.7
10.6
-9.2
-2.9
-13.6
Textiles
Percentage
-6.0
-7.2
-14.7
2.9
8.5
Construction
Percentage
10.2
0.5
-4.4
5.2
15.2
Hotels
Percentage
3.0
2.4
5.6
3.5
14.0
Finance
Percentage
11.7
4.3
5.4
7.0
7.5
Inflation (GDP
deflator)
Percentage
5.0
5.7
4.0
6.8
7.9
Inflation rate (CPI)
Percentage
3.9
4.7
4.9
8.9
8.8
GDP per capita
USD
3,964
4,452
4,462
4,651
n.a.
Overall growth rate
Sectoral growth rate
Source: African Economic Outlook 2009 [based on Central Statistics Office (CSO) data.
437.
The nature of the structural transformations that the government
needs to make through macroeconomic policies, and their guiding
vision, is crucial. Officials revealed their vision of a Mauritius of
tomorrow as a duty free country with a knowledge-based economy
that will evolve in a free and open market. Although they revealed this
dream during consultations, there is no clearly stated vision of this
kind. Some officials recognised, however, that there is a gap between
strategic thinking and planning. Servicing businesses so that they can
seize international opportunities seems to be the main and decisive
line of thinking and of government action. Structural transformations
are considered mostly piecemeal as responses to difficulties faced
by private sector enterprises in isolated sectors to help them face the
costs of their changes (covered by the taxpayer), thus helping them to
become sufficiently competitive in international markets.
438.
Servicing business seems to be one of the major objectives of economic
governance and management in general and of macroeconomic policies
Source: CSO. National Accounts March 2008, CPI 2007, Digest of Productivity and Competitiveness
Statistics 2006.
436.
178
Figure 4.1 illustrates the structure of Mauritius’s economy in more
detail. Although it shows only 2007, it does give a clear idea of the
important roles that a few sectors play. Among them are: (i) finance,
real estate and business services; (ii) other manufacturing; (iii)
transport, storage and communications; and (iv) wholesale and retail
30 - The most recent real GDP growth rate obtained after the CRM, as reported by the Bank of Mauritius is 5.1 per cent for 2006 and 5.5 per cent for 2007.
179