A digest of news and opinion from the Maldives.
The Maldives is an island nation well-known for its coral reefs and tropical islands, with a remotely distributed population. The Maldives is mostly famous as a tourist attraction throughout the world with a very small print on the map. It consists of a population of less than 400,000; located just below Sri Lanka and India. […]
2008 became the first year the Maldives was administrated by an MDP (Maldives Democratic Party) government, with the presidency of Mohamed Nasheed. This was during a time the global economic crisis was having a significant impact on the Maldivian economy through reduced tourist arrivals and a decline in capital inflows. Since then, the MDP Government […]
Like many other countries in the world, the developing economy of Maldives is also facing a dollar shortage. This has resulted in severe difficulties for businesses operating in the country, as the price of the dollar keeps on increasing. How significant is this dollar shortage? “Dollar inflow into the country has stopped. With the re-opening […]
Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has revealed that the majority overdraw/monetize of MVR 4.2 billion to cover state expenses has been issued. According to a report published by MMA at the end of July, the government has taken an overdraw/monetize of over MVR 4 billion from the authority. This, in turn, indicates only a few amounts […]
Maldives Customs has announced that effective from August 1st 2020, there will be no import duty charged on goods imported for Fisheries Industry. This includes the packaging such as plastic bags; equipment such as fish finder and navigator; supplies such as spool; marine diesel engine and its parts; as well as fishing nets and fishing […]
The Maldives has restarted tourism and reopened borders for visitors from all nationalities from 15th July 2020. To contain the spread of the COVID-19, countries are enforcing mandatory negative COVID-19 PCR test results when travellers return to their countries. This raises the question: Can Maldives address this requirement? Do we have enough testing facilities in […]
After welcoming a record-breaking 1.7 million tourist arrivals in the Maldives, the popular tourist destination targeted for 2 million arrivals in 2020. However, due to the global pandemic that significantly affected international tourism, the government now expected to see 850,000 tourist arrivals this year. Will the island nation be able to achieve this target? According […]
The Maldives has imposed stricter regulations on foreign employment and has commenced sending back undocumented workers in the country. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 4,582 undocumented Bangladeshi nationals have been repatriated from the Maldives so far. Will this create a shortage in the labour market? “I believe a shortage will come, […]
A research study conducted by the Higher Education Ministry reveals that the majority of secondary graduates show interest and wish to opt for a career in the tourism sector. This study shows that 21% of students are interested to build a career in the Tourism Industry. Tourism is the largest economic industry in the Maldives […]