PORT LOUIS, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Following are highlights of Mauritius' 2010 budget, as unveiled to parliament on Wednesday by Finance Minister Ramakrishna Sithanen.

"For the transitional six month fiscal period running from Jul 1 to Dec 31 we are now expecting tax revenue to be 25.5 billion rupees, representing 17.2 percent of GDP. Overall revenue will fall by 1.8 percentage points to around 21.1 percent of GDP, that is 31.4 billion.
"For the calendar year ending December 2010 revenue from taxation is expected to improve marginally to 17.3 percent of GDP and total revenues to 21.9 percent, i.e. 66.8 billion rupees."

"Government debt as a ratio of GDP (gross domestic product) will be 50.5 percent at end December this year and 50.4 percent at end December 2010. For the same periods, public sector debt will be 59.6 percent and 58.7 percent."

"For 08/09 the budget deficit worked out to be 3 percent of GDP and we will end the six month period from July to December with a budget deficit of 4.5 percent of GDP, lower than the initial estimate of 4.8 percent."
"The budget deficit is expected to fall below 4 percent in 2011 and below 3 percent in 2012."
"While the fiscal deficit for 2010 is projected at 4.5 percent, government borrowing requirement will only by 4 percent of GDP. This is mainly due to the sale proceeds of Mauritius Telecom shares which is expected to raise at least 1.5 billion rupees."

"For yet another year we are avoiding the easy option of increasing the VAT (value-added tax) or broadening its base. This is the first time in 15 years that a government has not increased VAT during its mandate."

"We have reached the conclusion that it is more prudent to allow economic recovery to take hold, to be cemented and to be sustainable before moving out of the stimulus package."
"But at the same time we have to avoid the trap of a very high budget deficit."

"We are therefore maintaining our additional stimulus package until December 2010, including the funds committed for the stimulus package."

"This was a crisis that has brought some of the most powerful economies close to collapse. We entered with confidence that our economy had been made resilient through reforms."
"The CSO (Central Statistics Office) is predicting a growth rate of 2.8 percent for 2009 and 4.3 percent for 2010. By 2011 it is expected the economy will return to its growth path of 5 percent and higher."

"The inflation rate for 2009 will be around 2.6 percent down from 9.7 percent in 2008."

"We will continue to give direct support to SMEs and large companies continuing to face difficulties due to the crisis so as to protect jobs."
"(We will) maintain commitment to frontload infrastructure plans to boost up activities and create jobs."

"The Balance of Payments has turned around from a deficit of 4.9 billion in 2005 amounting to 2.6 percent of GDP to a surplus as from 2007. Despite the crisis the surplus is projected to be around 13.5 billion rupees ($452 million) for 2009, representing about 4.8 percent of GDP."

"This year the current account deficit is expected to be lower at around 9 percent of GDP."
The current account deficit was 10.4 percent in 2008.

(Reporting by Jean Paul Arouff and Richard Lough; Editing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and David Clarke)

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($1=29.90 Mauritius Rupee)

Keywords: MAURITIUS BUDGET/

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