Mauritius Public Debt Hits Rs 700 Billion, Up 19.5% in Two Years

Mauritius is carrying a heavier debt load than ever before. Official figures show that the country's gross public sector debt has climbed to Rs 700.6 billion as of September 2026, up from roughly Rs 586 billion in September 2024. That is an increase of Rs 114.3 billion, or 19.5 percent, in just two years.

The bulk of this borrowing has happened at home. Domestic public debt now stands at Rs 573.1 billion, representing 81.8 percent of the total debt pile. That figure has grown by 24.5 percent over the same two-year period. When a government borrows heavily from local financial markets, it competes with businesses for available funds, which can tighten liquidity for local banks and push up borrowing costs across the economy.

The government borrows to cover its day-to-day running costs and to repay older debts as they fall due. The main instrument used is the domestic bond market, where the state issues bonds that local banks and institutional investors buy.

At first glance, one number might seem reassuring. The ratio of gross debt to gross domestic product (GDP) edged down slightly, from 82.3 percent in September 2025 to 81.9 percent in September 2026. The government could point to this as a sign of improvement. However, analysts argue this small decline is largely a statistical effect rather than genuine debt reduction.

Statistics Mauritius, the national statistics office, recently revised the base year used to calculate nominal GDP, updating it to reflect 2023 national accounts data. This revision made the economy look larger on paper. Because the debt-to-GDP ratio is calculated by dividing the debt by the size of the economy, a bigger GDP figure automatically reduces the ratio, even if the actual debt keeps growing. In other words, the denominator got bigger, so the fraction shrank, but the numerator, the debt itself, did not.

What this means: For ordinary Mauritians, a rising debt burden has real consequences. The more the government spends on repaying loans and interest, the less money is available for public services such as health, education and infrastructure. Heavy domestic borrowing can also crowd out private sector credit and slow economic growth over time. The slight improvement in the debt-to-GDP ratio reflects a change in how the economy is measured, not a change in how much money the country actually owes. Unless revenue grows faster than borrowing, the structural challenge of managing a Rs 700 billion debt pile will remain a defining issue for public finances in the years ahead.

Source: ION News