Social and Economic Indicators Tourism Tourist arrivals Growth of ‘hotels and restaurants’ sector Social and Economic Indicators Period Unit Year No. Year Tourist arrivals increase over previous year 2006 2007 2008 788,276 906,971 930,456 Percentage 3.5 14.0 2.7 2009a 2010a 871,356 915,000 -5.3 5.1 Percentage 3.6 15.1 2.6 -6.4 5.0 Gross earnings from tourism Year Rs million 31,942 40,687 41,213 35,693 40,150 Gross earnings per tourist Year Rs 40,521 44,860 44,293 40,963 43,880 Exchange and interest rates Period Unit 2006 2007 2008 2009a USD (Average of buying and selling) Year Rs 31.15 31.37 28.36 31.94 Euro (Average of buying and selling) Year Rs 39.51 42.92 41.61 44.52 Pound sterling (Average of buying and selling) Year Rs 57.83 62.86 52.73 50.07 Bank rate* As at end June Percentage 7.3 10.98 7.45 4.76 Prime lending rate* As at end June Percentage 9.20– 10.25 10.70– 11.75 10.15– 11.50 Interest rates on savings* As at end June Percentage 5.70– 6.27 7.20– 7.60 6.25– 7.25 Stock market data Period Unit 2006 2007 2008 2009a 264.41 477.4 267.22 360.75 Market indices • Stock Exchange of Mauritius (SEM) (7 March 1998=100) As at end December • Benchmark AllShare Index of the As at end Stock Exchange of December Mauritius (SEMDEX) (5 July 1989=100) 1,204.46 1,852.21 1,182.74 1,660.87 • Total Return Index of the Stock Exchange of Mauritius (SEMTRI) (5 July 1989=100) As at end December 3,060.71 4,868.61 3,233.74 4,712.70 Market capitalisation As at end Rs billion December 117 Market capitalisation as a percentage of Year GDP Percentage 56.7 Annual turnover Rs million Year 173.1 109.3 151.2 73.5 41.3 55.0 5,992.20 11,825.50 10,473.7 n.a. Source: Tableau de Bord, CSO of Government of Mauritius. Dashboard. http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/cso. Accessed 20 May 2010. Key a Forecast 5 8.05– 9.00 b Revised 6 4.00– 4.75 1 Mid-year population, excluding Agalega & St Brandon 7 2 Figures exclude drugrelated offences 8 3 Offences under Dangerous Drug Act of 2000 and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1974 9 Academic & prevocational * Figures as at end of June 4 Source: CSO. Annual Survey in Public-Funded Tertiary Institutions. Ratio of Mauritian labour force to that of Mauritian population aged 16 and above Ratio of unemployed to that of Mauritian labour force EOEs include enterprises formerly operating with Export Enterprise Certificates Budget estimates n.a. not available xii xiii