Mauritius

Although known to Arab and Malay sailors as early as the 10th century, Mauritius was first explored by the Portuguese in the 16th century and subsequently settled by the Dutch - who named it in honor of Prince Maurits van NASSAU - in the 17th century. The French assumed control in 1715, developing the island into an important naval base overseeing Indian Ocean trade, and establishing a plantation economy of sugar cane. The British captured the island in 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars. Mauritius remained a strategically important British naval base, and later an air station, playing an important role during World War II for anti-submarine and convoy operations, as well as the collection of signals intelligence. Independence from the UK was attained in 1968. A stable democracy with regular free elections and a positive human rights record, the country has attracted considerable foreign investment and has earned one of Africa's highest per capita incomes. Recent poor weather, declining sugar prices, and declining textile and apparel production, have slowed economic growth, leading to some protests over standards of living in the Creole community.

Economical characteristics

 * Currency: Mauritian rupee (ISO code: MUR)
 * Central bank discount rate: NA% (31 December 2009)
 * Commercial banks lending rate: 19.25% (31 December 2009 )
 * Stock of money (M1): $1.68 billion (31 December 2008)
 * Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $6.914 billion (31 December 2008)

Notable events:

 * Banking crisis: 1997
 * Years in inflation: 11.9% (share of years 1968-2009 with annual inflation above 20 per cent per annum)

Links

 * Mauritius on Wikipedia
 * Central bank of Mauritius
 * Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
 * Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
 * BBC country profile
 * Mauritius: A Glimmer of African Freedom by Sterling T. Terrell, January 2011
 * Antitrust Colonization Continues Unabated by S.M. Oliva, February 2011, about antitrust on Mauritius
 * The Little Economy That Could by Jeffrey Frankel, February 2012