Mauritius trade deficit narrows

Mauritius' trade deficit narrowed by 16.8 percent in January to 4.36 billion rupees ($123 million)from a year earlier helped by higher exports of food and live animals, the statistics office said. The value of exports rose 10.7 percent to 7.34 billion rupees, with revenue from sales of food and live animals up to 2.14 billion rupees from 1.66 billion a year earlier, the agency said in a statement. Imports by the Indian Ocean island nation fell by 1.4 percent to 11.70 billion rupees, the data showed. Britain was the main buyer of goods from Mauritius in December, accounting for 12.5 percent, while China supplied 20.3 percent of the nation's imports.