PORT LOUIS – Mauritius’ trade deficit widened 57.5 percent to 8.03 billion rupees in April from a year earlier, driven by a jump in the cost of machinery and transport equipment, official data showed on Friday.
The trade deficit in April last year came to 5.10 billion rupees.
The value of imports overall climbed 24.5 percent from a year earlier to 13.79 billion rupees, with the cost of machinery and transport equipment increasing to 3.18 billion rupees from 1.84 billion.
Exports fell 3.7 percent to 5.75 billion rupees on a drop in revenues from sales of manufactured articles, Statistics Mauritius said in a statement.
Britain was the main buyer of goods from Mauritius in April, accounting for 19.7 percent, while India supplied 21.3 percent of the island nation’s imports.
