ation rate (consumer prices):
4.2% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
560,000 (2003)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture and fishing 14%, construction and industry 36%,
transportation and communication 7%, trade, restaurants, hotels 16%,
finance 3%, other services 24% (1995)

Unemployment rate:
9.8% (2003 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $1.122 billion
expenditures: $1.461 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(2003)

Public debt:
31.9% of GDP (2003)

Agriculture - products:
sugarcane, tea, corn, potatoes, bananas, pulses; cattle, goats; fish

Industries:
food processing (largely sugar milling), textiles, clothing;
chemicals, metal products, transport equipment, nonelectrical
machinery; tourism

Industrial production growth rate:
8% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production:
1.311 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - consumption:
1.219 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
21,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA (2001)

Oil - imports:
NA (2001)

Current account balance:
$289 million (2003)

Exports:
$1.965 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
clothing and textiles, sugar, cut flowers, molasses

Exports - partners:
UK 31%, France 21.3%, US 17.6%, Madagascar 6.3% (2003)

Imports:
$2.136 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
manufactured goods, capital equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum
products, chemicals

Imports - partners:
South Africa 12.1%, France 12%, China 8.4%, India 8.2% (2003)

Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$1.598 billion (2003)

Debt - external:
$1.75 billion (2003 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$42 million (1997)

Currency:
Mauritian rupee (MUR)

Currency code:
MUR

Exchange rates:
Mauritian rupees per US dollar - 27.9015 (2003), 29.962 (2002),
29.1293 (2001), 26.2496 (2000), 25.1858 (1999)

Fiscal year:
1 July - 30 June

Communications Mauritius

Telephones - main lines in use:
348,200 (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
462,400 (2003)

Telephone system:
general assessment: small system with good service
domestic: primarily microwave radio relay trunk system
international: country code - 230; satellite earth station - 1
Intelsat (Indian Ocean); new microwave link to Reunion; HF
radiotelephone li