Malé, Maldives – Bank of Maldives has limited the international remittances done through the bank for students studying abroad.
In an email sent by the bank to its customers, BML stated that the national bank found it necessary to align its international remittances for education and living expenses purposes for Maldivian students abroad to those as provided by the MMA.
The bank said in the email that from 1st of this month, the dollars equivalent to tuition fees and living allowance will only be issued to tertiary full-time students above A-level, and students in professional fields such as aviation, law and medicine.
BML has been providing foreign currency support for living allowance and tuition fees for students studying abroad in grades below A Level until recently.
While students studying abroad rely heavily on BML to receive foreign currency, BML has still maintained the restrictions imposed over the Covid-19 pandemic, although the government has said the Maldivian economy has successfully recovered to pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
If students do not receive dollars from BML and other banks, they are forced to buy dollars at high prices from the black market. Average price of dollars from the blackmarket vary from MVR 17 to 19 per USD.
