Outlook for 2011-12

• With a large majority in the National Assembly the government coalition, headed by Navin Ramgoolam, the leader of the Labour Party, is secure in office, although the strains of coalition are likely to increase.
• The focus of economic policy, apart from the prudent management of public expenditure, will be on developing and supporting the economy during a period of economic uncertainty in Europe, Mauritius's main export market.
• In the longer term the government wants to reduce the economy's dependence on the slow-growing developed world and increase its links with the fast-growing developing economies.
• Real GDP growth in Mauritius is forecast to increase marginally to 4.4% in 2011 and then to fall to 4% in 2012 as growth slows in Europe-the destination of 63% of Mauritius's exports in 2010 and the origin of 65% of its tourists.
• The current-account deficit is forecast to rise from 8.5% of GDP in 2010 to 10.8% of GDP in 2011 as the trade deficit widens, before falling to 10% of GDP in 2012, mainly owing to an increase in the services surplus.

Monthly review

• The Best Loser System, which enshrines ethnicity in Mauritius's voting system, is to be reviewed by the UK's Privy Council, which acts as a supreme court for Mauritius.
• Mr Ramgoolam has been criticised by Reporters sans frontières for an angry outburst against journalists from La Sentinelle, a media group which has long been a target of government criticism.
• The minister of finance, Pravind Jugnauth, aspires to a doubling of Mauritius's GDP by 2020, equalling its growth of the past ten years, although this could be undermined by the slowing pace of economic reform.
• The World Bank has issued a report which is critical of the government's social and economic policies.
• The annual rate of inflation in April remained high, at 7%, largely owing to high global prices for oil and food, increasing the likelihood of an imminent rise in interest rates.
• Tourist arrivals in April were 22% higher year on year, although this was due to the collapse in tourism in April 2010 because of the Icelandic ash cloud.
• The European Investment Bank is to lend US$40m for private-sector finance.
• The trade deficit rose by 15.7% year on year to MRs16.9bn (US$575m) in the first quarter of 2011, largely because of a 63.6% rise in the value of oil imports, which highlights Mauritius's dependence on imported energy.