Male’, Maldives – Maldives Monetary Authority has announced that the central bank was temporarily suspending the issuance of money changer license from October 15 onward.
MMA stated that they had already given out the license to a number of businesses compared to the population of the country and that from October 15 onward they would not give out the licence to additional parties until further notice. According to the statistics by the Monetary Authority, there are 359 registered money changers in Maldives.
In addition to this, the announcement also stated that the central bank was reviewing the money changer guideline which is being followed now.
MMA has been taken various precautionary measures in managing the flow of foreign currency in the country as the tourism sector which main income source of foreign income has been crippled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the USD rates had gone up to MVR 20 per USD in the black market as USD supply dropped this year, MMA had given reassuarance that there was enough USD in the reserves for essential needs. Recently MMA has increased the amount of USD which it sells to the commercial banks stating that economic recovery is being seen.
