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Currencies |
| MAURITIAN RUPEE |
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| Introduction
| Overview | Structure
| History | Factors
affecting change in exchange rates | Daily
trend of Mauritian rupee | Weekly
trend of Mauritian rupee |
| Introduction |
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Mauritian rupee is the official unit of exchange in the
Republic of Mauritius. Mauritius, although being an African
country, use rupee that is popular among Asian countries such as
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Indonesia and Maldives.
As per the ISO 4217 regulation, the currency and the numeric code
for Mauritian rupee are defined as MUR and 480 respectively. Like
most of the other rupee denominated currencies, Mauritian rupee is
depicted with symbols “Rs” or “₨”. The currency came
into existence and has been serving the nation since the year
1934. The subunit of Mauritian rupee is provided by “cent” and
is counted among the only three rupee currencies to use “cent”
as its sub divisional unit.
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Overview
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Mauritius is a country that is counted among the rapidly
developing nations of the world. Though it gained its independence
in 1968 but was recognized as a republic in as late as 1992. This
is the reason for the slow rate of development in the country
before 1992 but in the present scenario, Mauritius looks much
promising. It has transformed into a middle-income diversified
economy from its outlook in the past as a low-income agrarian
economy when it got independent. The financial, industrial and
tourist sectors of Mauritius look brighter than before and are the
backbone of the country’s economy.
Mauritius along with Seychelles, are the only
two African currencies that use rupee as their official currency
unit as rupee’s background is very much related to Asian
continent. Initially when the currency was launched in 1934, it
held a direct peg to the British pound sterling but currently
follows a free float exchange rate regime. As far as the import
export restrictions in the island country are concerned, the local
currency cannot be imported more than the amount 700 MUR and the
export limit for the same is Rs 350 MUR. The foreign currency
import do not have any restrictions provided the amount be
declared and export of foreign currency can be done only till the
amount imported.
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Structure
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Mauritian rupee is among the only three rupee
denominated currencies in the world, along with
Sri Lankan rupee and Seychellois rupee, that use
“cent” as their subunit, “cent” commonly
being a subunit of dollar currencies. Bank of
Mauritius, which was established in 1966, looks
after the flow of currency in the country and
performs the role of the central bank of
Mauritius. The first currency notes and coins
were issued in the year 1876-77 during the reign
of United Kingdom. Currently, the currency
circulates in the country in total 13 face
values, 7 in paper note form and the rest 6 in
coin form. Coins are issued for the smaller
denominations in the currency and include values
5, 20 and 50 cents, 1 rupee, 5 and 10 rupees.
The coins that possess value in cents are hardly
seen in circulation and just the three rupee
denomination coins are used in the daily
transactions. All the coins bear an engraved
portrait image of Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, also
known as the Father of the Nation of Mauritius,
on their obverse sides. The reverse sides of the
coins have got symbolic images embossed on them,
the details of which are mentioned below
- 5-cent coin – Value of the coin with the
name of the country and the year of minting
- 20-cent
coin – Value of the coin with the year of
minting and name of the country
- 50-cent
coin – It shows a picture of deer along
with the respective value of coin
- 1
rupee coin – Coat of arms
- 5
rupee coin – Image of sea and palm trees
- 10
rupee coin – unlike other coins that are
round in shape, this coin is heptagonal and
shows a laborer cutting sugarcane in the
field
Also, many other coins are issued
commemorating different events and occasions,
which are important in context of the nation.
The paper currency is printed in the several
denominations including 25, 50, 100, 200, 500,
1000 and 2000 rupees. The obverse sides of all
the banknotes have portrait images of important
people in relation to the history of Mauritius.
The front sides of the notes are also featured
with the picture of Bank of Mauritius building
and statue of justice. The reverse sides of the
currency notes show illustrations that depict
various aspects of Mauritius along with the
respective values of notes written in Indian
language numerals including Hindi, Tamil and
Gujrati. Mauritian currency notes differ in
sizes and colors that help one to identify
banknotes differently. Following is the detailed
list of images obverse and reverse of Mauritian
rupee notes
- 25-rupee note – Portrait of Moilin Jean
Ah-Chuen on the obverse and image of
Rodrigues Island on the reverse of the note
- 50-rupee
note – Front side of the note shows an
image of Joseph Maurice Paturau and the
backside has a vignette of Le Caudan
- 100-rupee
note – Picture of Reganaden Seeneevassen
of the front side and on the reverse, image
of Court House is highlighted
- 200-rupee
note – Obverse side possesses the portrait
image of Abdool Razack Mohamed and a view of
Mauritian Market is shown on the backside
- 500-rupee
note – Portrait of Sookdeo Bissoondoyal on
the front and vignette of University of
Mauritius on the backside of the note
- 1000-rupee
note - Charles Gaetan Duval’s portrait
picture is depicted on the obverse side of
the banknote and State House’s image is
highlighted on the reverse
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2000-rupee note – This note bears the image of
Seewoosagur Ramgoolam on its front side and on
the reverse side, picture of a bull pulling a
sugarcane cart
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| History |
During the 15th and 16th century, when the concept of
colonization developed among the European countries
and the countries like Britain, France, Netherlands,
Portugal etc conducted voyages to discover new lands,
the route to the eastern world had Mauritius as an
important way station. Portugal was the first European
country to establish a base on the island but in the
1600s, Dutch annexed Mauritius. They brought along
with them Dutch coins that used to circulate in the
island at that time. French took over Mauritius in the
year 1721 and as in the other colonies of France,
French Colonial Livre that was abbreviated as XFCL
started to be used in both coin and banknote form.
Initially, the banknotes in French denomination were
issued by “Compagnie Francaise des Indes”, a
private French company that controlled the island. The
company handed over the control to the French
government in 1764 and consequently, the government
started issuing its own notes. From 1768, the
banknotes started to get issued locally and also other
popular foreign currencies such as Spanish silver
dollars and Indian gold and silver coins were used
prominently with the official unit of account.
In the early 19th century,
Britain captured Mauritius and changed the official
unit of account to Pound Sterling but Spanish dollars
were still popular as a prime medium of exchange. In
an attempt to popularize the British currency, many
attempts were made including establishment of a
currency board in 1849 but all these steps didn’t
work. In 1876, Indian rupee was made the official
currency of Mauritius due to its popularity and the
pound sterling banknotes were withdrawn from the
circulation. In 1934, Mauritian rupee finally replaced
Indian rupee and formed a separate currency that was
directly linked to pound sterling and note the Indian
rupee. The responsibility of managing currency in the
country was entitled to the Mauritius Currency Board
from 1934 till 1967, when Bank of Mauritius came into
existence and has been issuing the currency in
Mauritius till present.
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| Factors
affecting the exchange rates between two countries
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The volatility in the foreign exchange rates
depends upon a numerous macro economic factors that
have different degrees of importance to different
economies of the world. Some special and exceptional
factors affecting the rates may also exist in the case
of different countries. Following are shown the common
factors on which the foreign exchange rate depends
- Flow of imports and exports between the
countries
- Flow of capital between the countries
- Relative
inflation rates
- Fluctuation limits on exchange rate
imposed by the governments of the countries
- Merchandise trade balance
- Rate of inflation in the country
- Flow of
funds between the countries for the payment of
stock and bond purchases
- Relative growth
- Short term
and long term interest rate differentials
- Cost of borrowings
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