Historical Context and Current Challenges Chapter 2 Rodrigues Island 10 52. Rodrigues is named after a Portuguese navigator, Diogo Rodrigues, who visited the island in 1528. The Dutch settlers in Mauritius used to visit the island whenever fresh food supplies were needed. Later, towards the end of the 17th Century, a group of Huguenots led by Francois Leguat attempted to set up a community on the island, but left after only two years’ occupation. 53. From 1735, the French governor of Mauritius, La Bourdonnais, sent detach-ments of men to Rodrigues to gather fresh meat for the supply of French ships as well as for the Mauritian islanders. 54. By the end of the 19th Century, about 3,000 people were living in Rodrigues, with most of the population descended from freed slaves and European colonists. The island has continued to function as a supplier of food to Mauritius. There has been minimal industrial development, although in recent years tourism has become a major activity. 55. The island of Rodrigues, with a population of 37,499 as of December 2007, is one of the four main inhabited islands that comprise the Republic of Mauritius. The other three islands are Mauritius, with a population of 1.227 million in December 2007, and Agalaega and St Brandon, with a combined population of 289 people in December 2007. 56. 60 Rodrigues is the second major island of the Republic and is administered as the 10th district of Mauritius. However, in 2002, the island was granted a degree of autonomy through the creation of the Rodrigues Council and the appointment of a chief commissioner to oversee the administration of internal affairs. 2.2 The economic context 11 , 12 57. At independence, Mauritius was handicapped by a monocrop economy that was overly reliant on sugar exports, by increasing population growth and by severe unemployment. World sugar prices were at a record low, while labour unrest was high. These factors, combined with the high tax rate regime, contributed to a dismal economic climate, with personal taxes, including surcharges, reaching 92 per cent. 10 - History of Rodrigues. http://quatre-bornes.info/. Viewed 19 August 2009. 11 - The Economist. 16 October 2008. Beyond Beaches and Palm Trees. Viewed 13 August 2009 at www.economist.com. 12 - Currimjee, B. 10 March 2008. A Prophetic Adventure, edition spéciale - 40 ans d’indépendance, L’Express. Chapter 2 58. Historical Context and Current Challenges In the 1970s, the government of Mauritius acted to bolster the faltering economy. It did so by opening up the tourism sector and by passing the Export Processing Zone Act. In 1974 and 1975, the sugar price rose and the ACP/EU Sugar Protocol was signed. The signatories were 19 African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU) and the effect was to create an increased demand for the sugar of the ACP nations. Mauritius, a member state of the ACP, benefited from these developments and its sugar industry boomed. Mauritius also started a textile industry in the 1970s which, together with sugar and tourism, grew to dominate the business sector in the last quarter of the 20th Century. Box 2.4: Mauritius: The challenge of reinvention The blossoming of the Mauritian economy from independence onwards depended in large part on price and trade preferences for the island’s sugar and textile sectors. This led to over 40 years of average annual economic growth of more than 5 per cent. In 2005, however, Mauritius was faced with the discarding of trade preferences for clothing and textile exports and a gradual phasing out of the EU’s Sugar Protocol. As a result, unemployment rose, growth slowed down, and foreign debt increased. Furthermore, another mainstay of the economy, the export processing zone (EPZ) sector, was in recession, with output down by 30 per cent and a loss of approximately one-third of its workforce. The Mauritian government responded to these challenges by simplifying and eliminating taxes, removing red tape and bureaucratic blockages (such as the proliferation of licences required to start a new business), and lowering or completely removing tariffs. The government and the private sector worked closely together in nurturing Mauritian business. As a result, Mauritius has in recent years become more economically diversified. The tourism industry has grown rapidly (there are now over 100 hotels on the island) and an offshore banking industry has also developed – Mauritius now hosts more than 18 banks. The country has also developed as a gateway for investment into Africa. China, for example, has selected Mauritius as one of five special development zones in Africa and has earmarked over USD700 million in capital investments for exports to the rest of Africa. Sources: (1) The Economist. 16 October 2008. Beyond Beaches and Palm Trees. Viewed 13 August 2009 at www.economist.com. (2) Financial Times. 12 March 2008. FT Special Report. Viewed 13 August 2009 at www.ft.com. 2.3 Conclusion: The strengths and challenges for Mauritius 59. The challenges for Mauritius are both political and economic. In the political context, they include the need for maintaining social justice and peace among the constituent Mauritian communities; electoral reform; regulation of the financing of elections and political parties; and the promotion of the rights of women. 61