Maldives official reserves fall 14.9 percent to USD 547.7 million at end of September

Official reserves in the Maldives stood at USD 547.7 million at the end of September, according to the latest statistics published by the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA). The figure represents a decline of 14.9 percent compared with the end of August, when official reserves stood at USD 643.9 million. Usable, or available, reserves also fell over the same period. According to MMA statistics, usable reserves stood at USD 200.6 million at the end of August and dropped to USD 167.7 million by the end of September, a decline of 15.4 percent. The MMA said the main reason for the decline in reserves was that the amount of foreign currency sold by the authority during September exceeded the total amount of foreign currency it received. Compared with August, the amount of foreign currency sold by the MMA increased by 46.9 percent. Among the main reasons for the increase in foreign currency sales was the MMA's sale of dollars to the government during September to settle the remaining USD 50 million due on the USD 150 million T-bill that the government raised in 2019 through SBI Bank for budget support. Under the foreign exchange law, banks are required to convert dollars for each tourist arriving in the Maldives at the required proportion, and banks must sell 90 percent of the dollars they convert to the MMA. Of this amount, the MMA sells some to banks to meet public needs, while some is used to strengthen reserves. As in previous months, the MMA also sold dollars to banks in September to further facilitate the earning of foreign currency and to provide additional relief to the foreign exchange market. The statistics were released by the Maldives Monetary Authority, the country's central bank.