Mauritius

Mauritius has been a success story since
independence, moving from low income to uppermiddle-income
status. Close public-private partnerships facilitated
private sector-led growth in astable macroeconomic and
institutional environment. The government implemented an
activeindustrial policy to support private sector
competitiveness while exploiting global trade nichescreated
by preferential access arrangements. As a result, savings
were high and reinvested indiversifying the economy.
Starting as a mono-cropped, inward-looking economy,
Mauritiusmoved toward an export oriented and diversified
economy producing textiles, tourism, financialand ICT
services. Mauritius is now at a crossroads. On the one hand,
it can pursue a path where reinvigorated public investment
boosts economic growth and reinforced public assistance
enhancesredistribution. On the other hand, it can select a
path where private sector identifies constraintsfor growth
and the public sector is the enabling agent that removes
them, ensuring that proceedsare adequately shared by
targeted assistance and improved service delivery. The
Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) is intended to assess
the priorities of Mauritius to accelerate sustainable
economic growth while improving the welfare of the less well
off. The SCD aims to understand why income growth among the
bottom 40 percent of the population has been low relative to
the average income. The SCD also addresses how the rate and
structure of aggregate growth can be improved to accelerate
income growth among the bottom 40 percent of the population,
as well as ensure that overall growth is sustainable.