Trade deficit to reach Rs 76 billion in 2016

Statistics Mauritius has released trade forecasts for the current year. According to the government agency’s estimates, total exports for the year 2016 are expected to be around Rs 95 billion against Rs 171 billion for imports. Consequently, the trade deficit would be around Rs 76 billion.The released data-set also contained updated figures for trade in 2015. Total exports for the fourth quarter of last year amounted to Rs 22.5 billion, 8.4% less compared to the corresponding quarter of 2014. This drop is mainly explained by a decrease of 84.8% in the re-exports of “Telecommunication equipment and accessories” and 41.3% in the exports of “Ship’s stores and bunkers”, partly offset by increases of 21.6% and 14.9% in the exports of “Chemicals and related products” and “Miscellaneous manufactured goods” respectively. During the same period, total imports dropped by 9.3% from Rs 48.9 billion, in the fourth quarter of 2014, to Rs 44.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015. Decreases were noted in the imports of “Animal & vegetable oils and fats”(-36%), “Machinery and transport equipment”(-26.2%), “Mineral fuels, lubricants and related products” (-18%) and “Miscellaneous manufactured articles”(-5.3%)”, partly offset by increases in the imports of “Crude materials, inedible, excluding fuels” (+22%), “Beverages & tobacco” (+16.9%) and “Food and live animals” (+4.8%). Imports from our main suppliers fell for India (-25.2%), China (-7.3%), South Africa (-3.9%) and France (-1.7%) but rose for United Kingdom (+27.4%), Italy (+20.9%) and Japan (+11.3%). The trade deficit for the fourth quarter of 2015 works out to Rs 21.8 billion, 10.2% lower than the deficit of Rs 24.3 billion for the corresponding quarter of 2014. Compared to the previous quarter, the deficit was higher by 21.6%. During the year 2015, total imports of the Freeport Zone stood at Rs 21.3 billion, higher by 17.9% compared to 2014. Re-exports to overseas market were valued at Rs 21.9 billion, representing an increase of 15.8% over 2014. The main item imported and re-exported was “Telecommunications equipment & accessories”. Total exports to African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States during the year 2015 stood at Rs 16.5 billion against imports of Rs 18.9 billion. The trade deficit with ACP countries worked out to Rs 2.4 billion. During the year 2015, exports to COMESA member states attained Rs 8.2 billion while imports from these countries amounted to Rs 6.2 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of Rs 1.9 billion. Madagascar was the main buyer with a share of 69.1%. Our main suppliers were Seychelles (30.3%) and Madagascar (25.1%). Trade with SADC countries for the year 2015 showed a deficit of Rs 1.9 billion, resulting from imports value of Rs 16.6 billion against exports worth Rs 14.7 billion. The main supplier was South Africa (67.0%) and our main buyers were South Africa (51.1%) and Madagascar (38.4%)