Mauritius current account moves into surplus in Q1

(Reuters) - Mauritius registered its first current account surplus in two years in the first quarter of 2007, Central Bank figures showed on Thursday.

"Provisional estimates for the first quarter of 2007 suggest that the current account of the balance of payments registered a surplus of Rs 333 million ... against a deficit of Rs 501 million in the corresponding quarter of 2006," the bank's monthly statistical bulletin said.


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Mauritius May Sell Stakes in Telephone, Insurance Companies to Retire Debt

(Bloomberg) -- Mauritius may sell stakes in several
state-owned companies, including Mauritius Telecom and the State
Insurance Company Ltd., and use the proceeds to retire debt or
build new infrastructure, Finance Minister Rama Sithanen said.

``As part of its policy to develop the equity market and to
widen and democratize share ownership, government will encourage
Mauritius Telecom and Sicom Ltd. to be listed on the Stock
Exchange of Mauritius,'' Sithanen said in his June 15 budget
speech, which was published on his ministry's Internet site. ``In
the same vein, government will sell some of its shares in other
state-owned companies.''


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Mauritius sees record trade deficit in 2007

(Reuters) - Mauritius expects its trade deficit to widen 3.9 percent to a record 43 billion Mauritius rupees in 2007 from 41.4 billion rupees in the previous year, the Central Statistics Office said on Tuesday.

"Based on trends for previous years, total exports for the year 2007 are expected to be of the order of 83,000 million rupees, against imports of 126,000 million rupees," the CSO said, noting the import of aircraft worth 2.9 billion rupees.


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Mauritius sees 2006 jobless rate dipping to 9.1 pct

(Reuters) - The Mauritius unemployment rate is expected to have dropped to 9.1 percent in 2006 from 9.6 percent the year before, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said on Monday.

"Unemployment rate for the year 2006 is estimated at 9.1 percent against 9.6 percent in 2005," it said in a statement on its Web site, quoting data collected between October and December 2006.


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