Editing Economy of Mauritius (section)

==Overview==
[[Image:Efefef.jpg|thumb|left|Sugarcane.]]
[[Image:African working in the salt marshes.jpg|thumb|left|Working in the salt marshes.]]
In 1961, Professor James Meade painted a bleak picture of the economic prospects of Mauritius, which then had a population of 650,000. All the disadvantages associated with smallness of island states weighed heavily in his conviction that Mauritius was caught in a Malthusian trap and, therefore, if economic progress could at all be achieved, it would be to a very limited extent.{{cn|date=December 2024}} Since independence in 1968, [[Mauritius]] has developed from a low-income, agriculturally based economy to an upper-middle income<ref name="World Bank" /> diversified economy with growing industrial, financial, ICT and tourist sectors. For most of the period, annual growth has been roughly 4%. This compares very favourably with other [[sub-Saharan Africa]]n countries and is largely due to sustained progress in economic conditions; between 1977 and 2008, growth averaged 4.6% compared with a 2.9% average in sub-Saharan Africa.<ref name="ODI1">Milo Vandemoortele and Kate Bird 2010. [https://www.odi.org/publications/5184-progress-economic-conditions-mauritius-success-against-odds Progress in economic conditions in Mauritius: Success against the odds]. London: [[Overseas Development Institute]]</ref> Also important is that it has achieved what few fast growing economies achieve, a more [[Equity (economics)|equitable income distribution]] and inequality (as measured by the [[Gini coefficient]]) fell from 45.7 to 38.9 between 1980 and 2006.<ref name=ODI1/> This remarkable achievement has been reflected in increased life expectancy, lowered infant mortality, and a much-improved infrastructure. Sugarcane is grown on about 90% of the cultivated land area and accounts for 25% of export earnings.{{cn|date=December 2024}} The government's development strategy centres on expanding local financial institutions and building a domestic information telecommunications industry. Mauritius has attracted more than 9,000 offshore entities, many aimed at commerce in India and South Africa, and 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).{{cn|date=December 2024}}

With a well-developed legal and commercial infrastructure and a tradition of entrepreneurship and representative government, Mauritius is one of the developing world's most successful democracies. The economy has shown a considerable degree of resilience, and an environment already conducive to dynamic entrepreneurial activity has moved further toward [[economic freedom]]. The island's institutional advantages are noticeable. A transparent and well-defined investment code and legal system have made the foreign investment climate in Mauritius one of the best in the region.{{cn|date=December 2024}} Taxation is competitive and efficient. The economy is increasingly diversified, with significant private-sector activity in sugar, tourism, economic processing zones, and financial services, particularly in offshore enterprises.{{cn|date=December 2024}} The government is trying to modernize the sugar and textile industries, which in the past were overly dependent on trade preferences, while promoting diversification into such areas as information and communications technology, financial and business services, seafood processing and exports, and free trade zones. Agriculture and industry have become less important to the economy, and services, especially tourism, accounted for over 72 percent of GDP.{{when|date=December 2024}} The government still owns utilities and controls imports of rice, flour, petroleum products, and cement.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

[[Europe]] and the [[United States]] are the traditional export markets of Mauritius; preferential trading deals with partners such as the [[European Union]] and the United States in some [[economic sector]]s, such as the sugar industry and in textile and clothing sectors, resulted in the significant growth of the total exports of Mauritius, especially from the 1970s to the 1990s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Jonker |first=Kobus |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1043830955 |title=China's impact on the African Renaissance : the baobab grows |date=2018 |others=Bryan Robinson |isbn=978-981-13-0179-7 |location=Singapore |oclc=1043830955}}</ref>{{Rp|page=253}} [[Clothing in Mauritius|Clothing and textile industry in Mauritius]] started in the 1970s, when foreign investors (mainly coming from [[Hong Kong]]) started setting up firms which would assemble imported textiles into clothing; most of those activities happed in the [[Free-trade zone|export processing zones]] (EPZs).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/758976097 |title=Fostering technology absorption in Southern African enterprises. |date=2011 |publisher=World Bank |others=Itzhak Goldberg, Smita Kuriakose, World Bank |isbn=978-0-8213-8886-0 |location=Washington, D.C. |oclc=758976097}}</ref>{{Rp|page=182}} The clothing and textile sector spearheaded the industrialization process in Mauritius; in 2019 it represented around 43% of exports.<ref>[https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/mu/undp-strategic-options-for-the-mauritius-textile-and-apparel-industry-final-draft.pdf Strategic Options for the Mauritius Textile and Apparel Industry]</ref>