Mauritius - Through the Eye of a Perfect Storm : Coming Back Stronger from the COVID Crisis
On July 1, 2020, Mauritius officially joined the ranks of High-Income Countries (HIC). It is a cruel historical irony that Mauritius reached the High-Income milestone during one of the worst years in its history. Mauritius delivered a highly succes...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/586691621628367648/Mauritius-Through-the-Eye-of-a-Perfect-Storm-Coming-Back-Stronger-from-the-COVID-Crisis-A-World-Bank-Group-Country-Economic-Memorandum http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35627 |
| Summary: | On July 1, 2020, Mauritius officially
joined the ranks of High-Income Countries (HIC). It is a
cruel historical irony that Mauritius reached the
High-Income milestone during one of the worst years in its
history. Mauritius delivered a highly successful health
response to the global Covid-19 pandemic through a hard
lockdown and subsequent quarantine measures, and as a result
has effectively been ‘Covid-free’ from April 2020 to March
2021, when a second outbreak occurred. With a total of 1246
cases and 17 deaths, Mauritius has so far been able to avoid
the large-scale health crisis observed in many other
countries. However, Covid-19 has caused severe economic
disruptions in Mauritius. An oil spill in August and
Mauritius’ inclusion in the EU list of High Risk Third
Countries for Money Laundering in October 2020 added further
pressure. While the events of 2020 require dedicated
responses in the short term, addressing the underlying
challenges cannot be postponed if Mauritius is to make a
strong recovery. The best strategy for a solid recovery lies
in a combination of temporary support to firms and
households affected by the shock with a comprehensive reform
program to address pre-existing structural challenges. It is
unlikely that a strategy of simply addressing the short-term
effects by supporting ailing firms while waiting for global
conditions to improve would suffice to put Mauritius’
economic and social development back on track. On the other
hand, the crisis affords policy makers with the opportunity
to confront long-festering challenges. |
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