The Mauritian export processing zone

When Mauritius became independent in 1968, it was highly dependent upon sugar for foreign exchange. Early efforts to develop import‐substitution industries proved to be unsuccessful in reducing the country's economic and unemployment problems. The Export Processing Zone (EPZ) approach provided a package of fiscal concessions and other benefits to lure industries to locate their labour‐intensive activities in Mauritius. While the EPZ approach was successful during its early stages, a number of reforms had to be introduced to deal with persistent problems. The Mauritian EPZ model, despite various mistakes, can be useful to other countries, provided certain basic conditions prevail.