A2 development economists will read this article from the BBC with great interest and ought to be able to extract plenty from it. Extraction lies at the heart of the piece because instead of simply growing sugar, Mauritius has successfully invested in capacity and capabilities to create more value from the basic crop. Their economy has prospered in recent years with strong increases in real GDP per capita (PPP adjusted). But there are fears that the relaxation of sugar production quotas in the European Union from 2017 onwards will be a competitive threat for her sugar exporters. EU sugar growers are likely to expand and perhaps crowd out Mauritian exports. Declining world sugar prices also represent a threat to the sustained growth and development of the Mauritius economy in the near term.

GDP per capita for Mauritius

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