By Ed Harris PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Mauritius expects economic growth to increase to 6.2 percent for the 2008/09 financial year from 5.5 percent the year before, Finance Minister Rama Sithanen said in his annual budget speech on Friday. "For 2008/09 we are forecasting a growth rate of 6.2 percent, up from 5.5 pct in 2007/08 and 5.1 pct in 2006/07," Sithanen told parliament. "For the third consecutive year both the budget deficit and debt will fall as we continue to tame this twin beast," he said. He did not immediately give any figures. The fiscal deficit was 4.3 percent of gross domestic product in 2007 and public debt was 60 percent of GDP last June. The roughly $9 billion Indian Ocean economy has enjoyed accelerating growth since the start of reforms in 2006 to open and diversify its economy. Amid increased investor interest in Africa as a last emerging markets frontier, Mauritius is seen as one of the continent's most stable and prosperous economies. But, with an election due in 2010, it has seen widespread discontent linked to the global surge in oil and food prices. The appreciation of the Mauritius rupee until April had dented the impact of higher import prices, with it rising 15 percent versus the dollar last year and 8.5 percent in the first quarter of this year. But that strengthening has ended. On Thursday, officials said annual inflation in Mauritius had fallen to 8.8 percent in May from 10.5 percent a year ago. Mauritius central bank Governor Rundheersing Bheenick told Reuters last month that May's cut in the key repo rate of 50 basis points to 8.00 percent carried an inflationary risk. | 
