Mauritius's trade deficit in September fell by 8.2 percent from the same month last year to 5.065 billion rupees ($157.4 million), due largely to a decrease in its petroleum bill, according to official data. The deficit in September 2007 was 5.51 billion rupees. "Total imports reached 11.474 billion rupee against total exports of 6.409 billion," a Central Statistics Office (CSO) report said.
"In September 2008, our imports originated mainly from India for a value of 2.246 billion. The import bill from India was much lower than in September 2007 due to lower imports of petroleum products," CSO said. Exports were up on due to an improved sugar harvest. The UK is by far Mauritius's leading importer of sugar, buying 57,638 tonnes out of a total of 59,831 tonnes this September.
Surging food prices, a weak dollar and plummeting consumer confidence in key export markets have hurt the roughly $9 billion Indian Ocean island economy. In June this year record high oil prices led the CSO to predict the country's trade deficit would hit a record 57 billion this year, a 10.5 percent increase on 2007.
Since then oil prices have sunk to below $50 a barrel, easing some of the pressure on the island's import bill. Mauritius, with a population of 1.3 million, expects its economy to grow by less than a previous forecast of 5.4 percent this year.