Strenghtening supply-side capacity for attracting investment to Mauritius

Systemic constraints to investment and export competitiveness in Mauritius include small market size, geographical isolation, and high labour costs. More fundamentally, the skill base is not tailored to the requirements of sectors promoted by government: a mismatch in labour market skills constrains competitiveness and prevents the population from making the most of business linkage opportunities. Mauritius has yet to take the step towards a coherent global economic strategy, which would put foreign trade in perspective with enabling human resources, infrastructure and investment strategies. Ensuring greater policy coherence between trade and investment strategies – including at industry and sector-specific level – would be essential. In addition to diversifying export partners, trade policy will need to balance exports with growth of the domestic market, reduce the gap between trade policy formulation and implementation, and upgrade the links of Mauritian industry with international value chains – notably through targeted human resource mobilisation.