The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met on November 12 and unanimously decided to keep the Key Rate unchanged at 4.50 percent per annum. During a media briefing, Bank of Mauritius (BoM) Governor Dr Priscilla Muthoora Thakoor, while expressing her pleasure to address her first press conference pertaining to MPC, has reiterated the commitment to fulfil the bank’s mandate of maintaining price stability and promoting economic development.
“The bank’s monetary policy shall remain proactive, data-driven and adaptive to changing economic conditions while being guided by a comprehensive analysis of both global and domestic economic and financial trends, anchored on principles of transparency and accountability,” she underlined.
On the international trends, the Governor commented that the global economy has shown signs of resilience with the anticipated disruptions owing to trade tariffs having clouded the outlook earlier this year has been mitigated taken into account that importers have built their stock of good ahead of expected tariff deadlines coupled with stability, following de-escalation of the -China stand-off and bilateral trade negotiations between the US and several countries.
Continuing in the same vein, she pointed out that several institutions, such as the IMF, WTO, and OECD, have revised upwards their growth forecast for 2025, attributed to several factors such as milder-than-expected impact of trade tensions, fiscal stimulus in major economies, as well as a surge in AI-driven investment, bolstering productivity and economic activity. She further remarked that inflation dynamics across the main trading partners showed mixed signals with advanced nations continue to face inflation pressure, spurred by persistence of services inflation and growing signs of pass-through from tariff measures to prices while emerging economics such as China witnessed deflation for the second successive month in September and in India, inflation has dropped to a low level owing to sharp declines in food prices.
On the domestic front, economic growth stood at 3.6 percent during 2025Q2, attributed to three sectors: ‘Financial and insurance activities’, ‘Accommodation and food service activities’, and ‘Agriculture, forestry and fishing’. Meanwhile, on the demand side, consumption remains the main contributor to economic growth. On the other hand, real GDP growth for 2025 is poised to be at 3.1 percent, with financial and insurance activities, ‘Wholesale and retail trade’ and ‘Information and communication’ expected to remain robust, and is on a continuous path to provide impetus to growth as a whole.
The Governor commented: “On a positive note, the Mauritius IFC is projected to keep attracting adequate financial flows in 2025, with global cross-border investment activities anticipated to remain resilient despite uncertainty hinging on the international trade landscape. The overall balance payment surplus is poised to hit Rs 15 billion for 2025.”
Set against the new flexible inflation targeting regime spearheaded in 2023, the bank continued to issue its own securities to mop up excess liquidity targeted at the shorter end of the yield curve. In the context of the last MPC meeting held in August, the Central Bank has issued BoM bills for a total amount of Rs34 billion and redeemed an amount of Rs40.5 billion, while the amount of the outstanding BoM securities issued for liquidity management purposes stood at Rs65.2 billion, as at November 10.
The Governor also remarked that in the light of prevailing economic conditions, there is a need to exercise a cautious wait-and-see approach where incoming data reveals an easing of wage pressures and inflation stabilising near the medium-term target, allowing the current policy stance to be maintained taken into account the growing uncertainty looming over global growth, trade tensions and global commodity prices that can impact domestic inflation and growth.
Taking into account all the factors, the MPC has unanimously decided to keep the Key Rate unchanged at 4.50 per cent per annum, which leaves ample scope for gradual adjustments, avoiding mixed signals and a flexible approach in responding to unforeseen shocks, aimed to enhance the policy credibility and support the long-term objective of price stability.
The Governor has also announced the calendar of meetings for 2026: February 11, May 20, August 12, and November 11.
