State Reserve Increases By 13% Compared To February Now Totaling Up USD 855.7 Million

On Thursday, the central bank of the nation – Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) – has publicized the monthly statistics for March 2021.

As per the stats, the state reserve stood at USD 855.7 million at the end of March, which is a 13% increased as opposed to the figure of USD 830.7 million in February. It is also a 3% increase when compared to that of January 2021. Moreover, this figure much higher in contrast to the amount of February 2020, which was USD 757.7 million. The improvement of the figures is much likely attributed to the recovery of the nation’s tourism sector with the steady increase in the count of tourist arrivals.

A large portion of the state reserve is usually allocated on expenditure to import staple food to be used across the country. Nevertheless, the reserve has been deeply hit by the economic downturn of the nation owing to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has limited the sources of income of the state that has demonstrated insurmountable losses in the economy. Consequently, Maldives Monetary Authority and local banks have taken various steps to limit the outflow of cash through decreasing dollar limits on bank cards and such.