Mauritius’s Annual Inflation Rate Rises to 6.8% in February

Inflation accelerated from 6.4 percent a month earlier, the Port Louis-based Central Statistics Office said in a statement on its website today. In the month, prices climbed 0.7 percent, driven by food and transportation costs.

“About 60 to 70 percent of inflation is dictated by foreign prices as Mauritius is a net importer of food and fuel,” Kriti Taukoordass, an economist and partner at the advisory firm Mazars, said in a phone interview from Port Louis, the capital.

Inflation has accelerated for six consecutive months, raising the possibility of an interest rate increase on March 28, when the Monetary Policy Committee next meets. The benchmark repo rate was left unchanged at 4.75 percent on Dec. 6, while central bank Governor Rundheersing Bheenick forecast the inflation rate may rise to 7 percent in June 2011, prompting the bank to take “appropriate measures.”