* Investment board sees steady FDI despite global slowdown
* Inflows seen going to healthcare, light manufacturing
By Jean Paul Arouff
PORT LOUIS, July 11 (Reuters) – Mauritius expects this
year’s foreign direct investments to at least match those of
2011 despite the global slowdown, with money flowing into a new
range of sectors of the diversifying Indian Ocean island
economy.
Maurice Lam, chairman of the Board of Investment, told
Reuters the FDI target for this year was 10 billion rupees ($320
million), slightly up from last year’s 9.5 billion rupees.
Famed for its white sand beaches and luxury spas, Mauritius
is shifting an economy traditionally focused on sugar, textiles
and tourism more towards offshore banking, business outsourcing,
luxury real estate and medical tourism.
Lam said the global economic downturn was affecting
investment marketing, but based on a slight year on year rise in
foreign direct investment over the first six months, he was
confident the 2012 total would match last year’s.
“I have asked the people of the BOI to double their efforts
in order to be able to match last year’s performance given the
global economic context,” Lam said.
“We should bear in mind that there will be a shift in the
amount of FDI as more investments flow into the light
engineering, education and health care sectors.”
Continued…
