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AfrAsia Bank Limited and its Group Entities
Annual Report 2015
page 115
MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
ECONOMIC OVERVIEW AND OUTLOOK
The Domestic Landscape – Review of 2014/15
2014 elections: A landslide signaling sweeping reforms
On 17 December 2014, a new coalition Government was sworn in after winning a spectacular and unexpected landslide victory
in the general elections. This brought an end to nine years of power led by the Labour Party and signaled the beginning of a new
economic agenda, which was the hallmark of the electoral campaign. After months of uncertainties and stalled policy action which
are often characteristics of any democratic pre-election period, the new Government took office with the promise that it would bring
a “second economic miracle” to the shores of Mauritius.
Whilst the first few months have been characterised by what some would term as “populism” and others “interventionism,”
the country is now “at the crossroads” (which was the title of the first Budget presented by the new team), faced with new realities on
the ground, the most important being the threat of a “middle-income trap” and growing disparities in income levels and distribution.
GROWTH AVERAGED 5% OVER THE
LAST DECADES AND AVERAGED 4% LATELY
25
20
15
10
5
0
-5
-10
-15
1950
1960
2010
2000
1990
1980
1970
Real growth
Real growth per capita
10-year MA
8,000
7,000
9,000
10,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
GDP/Capita (USD): Mauritius
GDP/Capita (USD): SSA
%
USDPER-CAPITA INCOME ROSE RAPIDLY, PUTTING MAURITIUS
FIRMLY IN HIGH MIDDLE INCOME STATUS
Pictorial representation of what Mauritius calls its ‘first economic miracle’
Source: Systematic Country Diagnostic, World Bank Group, June 2015