In the News
Mauritius becomes Africa's 2nd High Income Country
7th July 2020
Mauritius has become the second country after Seychelles in Africa to attain high-income status.
#BreakingNews: New @WorldBank country income classifications are out. These classifications are based on GNI per capita in current USD of the previous year. Check it out: https://t.co/UMKnUjpMDg pic.twitter.com/q5wpr0Zzgg
— World Bank Poverty (@WBG_Poverty) July 6, 2020
The new classifications published by the World Bank are based on the following income levels (all in US dollars)
- Low income < 1,036
- Lower-middle income 1,036 - 4,045
- Upper-middle income 4,046 - 12,53
- High income > 12,535 > 12,375
Mauritius - with a per capita income in 2019 of $12,740 at market exchange rates has moved from being an upper middle income country to a high income nation. Tanzania has moved to lower middle income status as has Benin. Romania - which joined the European Union in 2007 - is now classified as a high income nation for the first time.
Sri Lanka moves in the opposite direction from upper middle income to lower middle income status.
More details available here from the World Bank
Congrats Mauritius: Africa's 1st High Income Country. World Bank makes classification official. Mauritius said it would do it, has set people-oriented economic growth goals, practiced government financial discipline and attracted investment via transparency and sound policies.🇲🇺 pic.twitter.com/NCctEEPDCM
— James Hall (@hallaboutafrica) July 6, 2020
July 1, 2020: #Mauritius is classified a HIGH-INCOME economy! Great achievement for a country once considered a hopeless case by a future Nobel laureate in economics. No oil, no gas, no diamonds, no gold, no uranium... Just good ideas and good leadership. https://t.co/WbLIM7F8VO https://t.co/keJjydDeqO
— Célestin Monga (@CelestinMonga) July 3, 2020
Following the publication on 1st July 2020 of the annual @WorldBank income classification, the Republic of #Mauritius has entered, for the first time, the category of high-income countries. pic.twitter.com/pYWGT2Mxnd
— Bank of Mauritius (@BoM_Mauritius) July 6, 2020
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Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.
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