In the 2009 Industrial Development Report of UNIDO, Mauritius shows signs of becoming exactly such a slow-growing middle-income economy: we occupy the 55th position, far behind Malaysia (16th), Turkey (43rd), Tunisia (49th), and not that far ahead of Bangladesh at 87th position. In the “logistics performance index”, we do much worse, trailing in 132nd out of 150 countries.
Something has clearly gone wrong here, don’t you think? The report offers a generic explanation. Middle-income countries that developed a niche for themselves some years ago are now facing intense competition from new lower-income countries, eager to move up the ladder to middle-income category. The dynamic ones have enhanced the diversity and sophistication of the products they produce.