Bank of Mauritius Key Rate at 4.75%: What It Means for a Mortgage
The Bank of Mauritius Key Rate has been 4.75% since May 2026. What the official figures show for borrowers.
The Bank of Mauritius Key Rate has stood at 4.75% a year since 20 May 2026. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) left it there on 12 August 2026, after raising it by 0.25 percentage points in May. Borrowers on variable rates saw the effect the following month: the bottom of the banks’ Prime Lending Rate range rose from 6.65% to 6.90% in June 2026.
What the Bank of Mauritius decided in 2026
On 20 May 2026, the seven MPC members present voted unanimously to lift the Key Rate from 4.50% to 4.75%. The Bank pointed to escalating tensions in the Middle East, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and higher energy prices. Year-on-year inflation had climbed from 2.7% in March to 3.6% in April 2026, and the Bank expected inflation of around 5.5% for the year, with growth cut to 2.8%.
On 12 August 2026, the MPC held the Key Rate at 4.75%, again unanimously. Headline inflation eased from 4.1% in June to 4.0% in July, but year-on-year inflation rose from 3.7% to 4.4%. The Bank trimmed its 2026 inflation forecast from 5.5% to around 5%, citing the figures so far and budget subsidies on selected staple goods, and kept its growth forecast at 2.8%. It still sees the risks to inflation tilted to the upside and says it stands ready to act between scheduled meetings. Its latest stress tests show a banking sector that remains resilient overall.
Before May 2026, the rate had not moved since 4 February 2025, when the MPC raised it by 0.50 points, from 4.00% to 4.50%.
From the Key Rate to bank lending rates
Every month the Bank of Mauritius publishes a table of the banks’ principal interest rates. It sets the Key Rate beside the range of Prime Lending Rates and the weighted average rate on rupee loans. The figures below are end-of-month values.
| Month | Key Rate | Prime Lending Rate (range) | Weighted average rupee lending rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 2024 | 4.50% | 6.75% – 9.50% | 7.18% |
| October 2024 | 4.00% | 6.25% – 9.00% | 6.67% |
| January 2025 | 4.00% | 6.25% – 9.00% | 6.48% |
| February 2025 | 4.50% | 6.65% – 9.00% | 6.86% |
| April 2026 | 4.50% | 6.65% – 9.00% | 6.81% |
| May 2026 | 4.75% | 6.65% – 9.00% | 6.77% |
| June 2026 | 4.75% | 6.90% – 9.00% | 6.94% |
| August 2026 | 4.75% | 6.90% – 9.00% | 6.92% |
Three things stand out. The bottom of the Prime Lending Rate range follows the Key Rate in both directions: it fell when the Key Rate dropped from 4.50% to 4.00% in 2024, then rose by 0.40 points in February 2025 and by 0.25 points in June 2026, a month after the May hike. The top of the range has not moved since October 2024, at 9.00%. And the weighted average rate moved the same way, by a similar amount: from 6.48% in January 2025 to 6.86% in February 2025, and from 6.77% in May 2026 to 6.94% in June 2026.
That average covers all rupee loans, not just mortgages. The Bank of Mauritius does not give an average home-loan rate in this table, and it says nothing about foreign-currency loans. What you pay depends on your own contract.
What 0.25 points does to a monthly repayment
Here is a worked example, not a bank offer. A Rs 5,000,000 loan over 20 years at 7.00% costs about Rs 38,765 a month. At 7.25%, the repayment rises to about Rs 39,519, which is Rs 754 more a month, just under 2%. Over 20 years that adds up to roughly Rs 181,000 in extra interest.
The gap only affects you if your rate follows the bank’s. On a variable rate, the repayment or the term moves when the bank adjusts its prime rate. On a fixed rate, you pay the rate in the offer you signed. Before you sign, ask the bank in writing which benchmark applies, how often the rate is reviewed and what happens if rates fall.
Foreign buyers: what changes and what does not
The Key Rate is the rupee’s policy rate. If you borrow in rupees, it matters directly. If you borrow in a foreign currency, or earn in euros, dollars or pounds, the real cost of the purchase also depends on the exchange rate, which we cover in our article on choosing a currency and managing exchange-rate risk. The conditions for non-residents to get a loan (deposit, term, paperwork) are set out in our pages on mortgages for expats and on borrowing as a foreign buyer.
For a new-build purchase, the payment terms depend on the programme and the scheme: see new-build programmes in Mauritius. To see where a budget sits against the market, property prices by region give the benchmarks.
How to read the next decision
Read an MPC statement for three things: the decision itself, the inflation forecast and the tone on risks. When the Bank says inflation risks remain tilted to the upside and that it is ready to act between meetings, as it did on 12 August 2026, it is not ruling out another increase. When the inflation forecast falls and activity slows, the pressure eases. The monthly tables of bank rates, published by the Bank of Mauritius, then show within a month or two whether the Prime Lending Rate followed.
If you are planning a purchase, test your budget with a repayment calculated at half a point above the rate in your offer, rather than trying to guess when the next decision will come.
Sources and checks
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