Bloomberg: Mauritius Trade Gap Widens 21% to $2.35 Billion in 2010 as Imports Climb

Mauritius’s trade deficit widened by 21 percent in 2010 compared with a year earlier as imports rose more than exports, the country’s statistics agency said.

The gap increased to 68.4 billion rupees ($2.35 billion) last year from 56.5 billion rupees, the Port Louis-based Central Statistics Office said in a statement on its website today. Total exports rose by 8.6 percent to 67.1 billion rupees and imported climbed 15 percent to 135.5 billion rupees, it said.

“It’s the outcome of higher fuel bills and rising food prices,” Eric Ng, an economist and director of the advisory company, PluriConseil, said by phone from Port Louis, the capital.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kamlesh Bhuckory in Port Louis