Known by tourists for exquisite beaches, stunning landscapes and for being a multicultural island, Mauritius is considered as a leading country for cross-border business structuring by the international business community. The country’s strong network of strategic Free Trade Agreements contributes to consolidating its leading position as a trade platform between Africa and Asia.
What makes Mauritius a global business jurisdiction?
What are the advantages of choosing Mauritius for cross-border structuring?
By offering numerous benefits to companies that are trying to widen their activities worldwide, Mauritius has help to maintain its status as a global business jurisdiction. Positioned in a strategic location between Asia and Africa has created a key advantage for Mauritius as it is placed in an enticing position for business that are trying to broaden their activities in those market. Mauritius has created a reliable and secure environment for business operations thanks to its stable and advanced political and regulatory environment.
What role does Mauritius play as an International Financial Centre?
Through its investor-friendly policies and an efficient financial infrastructure, Mauritius has built a reputation of a leading International Financial Centre. With numerous international banks operating in the island coupled with other non-banking financial institutions, the island holds a compelling financial services sector. Setting up a business in Mauritius can help in enhancing the company’s operations and maximise its finances as the island signed Double Tax Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) with more than 40 countries.
How does Mauritius facilitate cross-border investment?
Foreign investors consider Mauritius as an attractive destination for cross-border investment because of its robust legal and regulatory environment. Mauritius has also a wide network of Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (IPPAs), which facilitate foreign investment and establish the country’s position as a gateway for investment in Africa. In order to entice more foreign investors, Mauritius has also been trying to build a reputation as an ideal destination by offering measures that lessen restrictions on the repatriation of profits and capital.
What are the benefits of Mauritius’ financial services sector?
How do businesses benefit from Mauritius’ financial services sector?
Thanks to the strength of the country’s financial services sector, companies have been able to benefit from a number of advantages. With a strong and skilled workforce, including finance and accounting expert, Mauritius have been able to help companies address their financial management needs.
What types of business companies can be established in Mauritius?
In order to respond to the demands of local and foreign investors, the Mauritian legal and regulatory ecosystem allows for the formation of different types of business structures: offshore companies (including Global Business Companies and Authorised Companies), Limited Liability companies, Trusts, Foundations, and Investment Funds, amongst others. Each structure has their own characteristics and provide a number of advantages.
How does Mauritius’ legal system support business structures?
Stability, transparency and efficiency are key characteristics of the legal system of Mauritius, the ideal location for companies looking for a safe and reliable legal environment for their activities. To ensure that companies can conduct their operation in a fair and predictable legal setting, Mauritius has put in place a well-developed legal and regulatory environment.
There are no restrictions on currency and capital exchange in Mauritius. Indeed, to encourage efficiency and transparency in cross-border, Mauritius abolished foreign exchange control by suspending the Foreign Exchange Control Act in 1994. This enables free repatriation of capital. Consequently, no approval is required for the repatriation of profits, dividends, and capital gains earned by a foreign investor in Mauritius.
How does forming part of trade organisations be beneficial for cross-border business located in Mauritius?
Being part of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC), and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has brought many benefits to Mauritius and other members. As a member, Mauritius was provided with the opportunity to enter a large market which consist of over 1 billion consumers of these regional economic communities. The benefit for companies that are situated in Mauritius is that they can broaden their reach in member states while taking advantage of the reduced trade barriers, customs duties, and tariffs. This results in an improvement in the competitiveness of their business.
These agreements have strengthened the economic and political ties and improved the cross-border investment opportunities. Furthermore, these trade agreements propose a framework for the harmonisation of trade policies and regulations across member states. This has helped to lessen administrative procedures, to remove or reduce non-tariff barriers including quotas and licensing, promoting free movement of goods and services.
Business can benefit from this as they can gain a far greater efficiency while minimising their operating cost through cross-border businesses from Mauritius. Moreover, to enhance the level of competitiveness of business in Mauritius, provisions for technical cooperation, knowledge-sharing, and capacity building are also included in those agreements.
