AU WATCH

Mauritius

Brief Overview

Located off the southeast coast of Africa, neighboring the French island of La Reunion, Mauritius is an island state of 1.3 million inhabitants. The country’s economy has made great strides since independence in 1968, and Mauritius is now an upper middle-income economy. Key challenges include managing the transition to a knowledge-based economy and adapting to the impacts of climate change.

Small and landlocked, Rwanda is hilly and fertile with a densely packed population of about 12.5 million people (2018). It borders the far larger and richer Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as its closest East African neighbors, Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi. With the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, Rwanda has been able to make important economic and structural reforms and sustain its economic growth rates over the last decade.

Political Context

Mauritius is a multiparty parliamentary democracy. Shifting coalitions are a feature of politics in the country. The President is the head of state, while the Prime Minister has full executive powers and heads the government. The last legislative elections, held in December 2014, were won by the Alliance Lepep, a coalition comprising the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM), the Mauritian Social Democrat Party (PMSD) and the Liberation Movement. The PMSD eventually left the coalition and joined the ranks of the opposition. In January 2017, following the resignation of then-PM Sir Anerood Jugnauth, the Finance Minister, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, became PM. The new PM reshuffled the Cabinet but retained the Finance portfolio. The next parliamentary election is expected in late 2019 or early 2020.

Recent Economic Developments

The country’s Gross Domestic Product reached 3.7 percent in 2018, in line with trend growth, driven by construction and services sectors (tourism, banking, ICT). Manufacturing and agriculture have been growing at a slower pace, and output in the traditional sugar sector declined. These growth patterns continue an ongoing trend of structural transformation, with more knowledge intensive modern services sectors expanding while some of the sectors that have traditionally provided low-skilled employment stagnating or even contracting.

The baseline scenario is for economic conditions to remain favorable on the back of continuous growth in external demand from tourism and the pick-up in public investment, notably the sizable road decongestion program. Knowledge intensive services sectors are expected to continue to play an important role in driving growth, which may further aggravate the shortage of skilled labor and resulting trend towards higher skills premiums and resulting wage inequality. However, there are significant risks to the baseline forecast mostly resulting from Mauritius’ exposure to external shocks from tourism demand, climate change, and an evolving global environment for the financial sector.

Inflation is moderate, reaching 3.2 percent in 2018. The total masks significant variation over the year with temporary steep increases in food prices in early 2018 causing significant public debate.

The Republic of Mauritius
Capital: Port Louis
Population: 1.3 million

Area: 2,040 sq km (788 sq miles)

Major languages: English (official), Creole, French, Indian languages

Major religions: Hinduism, Christianity, Islam

Life expectancy: 71 years (men), 78 years (women)

Currency: Mauritian rupee

UN, World Bank

President: Paramasivum Pillay Vyapoory

Development challenges

Mauritius faces the challenge of managing its transition to a knowledge based high-income economy driven by innovation and productivity growth. This will require a concerted effort to remove bottlenecks to new sources of growth and private investment, such as a lack of connectivity, skills shortages, and misaligned incentives.

While the trend may have recently been reversed, inequality has been on the rise for a number of years. Public transfers have contributed to mitigate the rise in total income inequality. Besides, while general unemployment is low (6.9% in 2018), women face a higher unemployment rate at 10.1 percent, and a much lower labor force participation rate (45.4 versus 74.5 for men). Youth unemployment stands at 22.1 percent and is often the result of a combination of skills mismatch and rising expectations of young labor market entrants resulting in high reservation wages.

Mauritius is highly vulnerable to tropical storms and the risk is amplified by climate change. A multi-hazard risk assessment completed in 2017 suggests that Mauritius experiences on average $110 million per year in direct losses from tropical cyclones and floods. Each year, there is a 1 percent chance of losses exceeding USD$1.9 billion, or 16 percent of Mauritius’ GDP. Mauritius lies within the cyclone area of the Indian Ocean. A large share of the population and productive assets in Mauritius are exposed to multiple risks from cyclones. Flood risk is continuously increasing. The frequency of storms of tropical cyclone strength (winds above 165 km/h) has increased significantly over the past three decades.

Important Addresses and Contacts

Physical Contacts of the Presidency

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Physical Contacts of the Prime Minister’s Office

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Physical Contacts of the National Assembly

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Physical Contacts of the Police

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Important Information of Key Human Rights Issues in Mauritius

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Corruption in Mauritius

 

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(3) Impunity

Membership of African Regional Organisations

 

African Union (AU)

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Key Regional Human Rights & Governance InstrumentsSigned and Ratified

 

  1. African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights

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2.Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights

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  1. Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights

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4.Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights

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  1. Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa

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  1. African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption

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  1. African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance

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  1. Statute of the African Union Commission on International Law (AUCIL)

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  1. OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa

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  1. African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention)

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  1. Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community Relating to Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Right of Establishment

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  1. African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

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  1. Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Older Persons

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  1. Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa

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