Malé, Maldives – Maldives Monetary Authority has revealed that the government’s official reserves increased to USD 827.7 million at the end of last year.
Official reserves stood at USD 604.2 million in November, according to data released by the Monetary Authority of Maldives (MMA). However, official reserves increased by USD 223.5 million at the end of December. With this increase, official reserves rose to USD 827.7 million as of December.
The government estimated that the reserves would reach USD 632 million by the end of the year. However, by the end of the year, the figure was about USD 200 million higher than the target.
The government said the increase in reserves in the past two months was due to increased revenue, foreign aid and tourism taxes. According to MIRA data, the government received USD 134 million in foreign exchange last month.
Despite the increase in total reserves, the total reserves available as usable reserves are about USD 60 million.
Maldives’s official reserves stood at USD 805 million by 2021. By the end of 2020, reserves stood at USD 985 million. So for the past four years, the country’s reserves, at the end of the year, have been held at an average of USD 800 million.
The budget book estimates reserves at USD 606 million by the end of the year 2023.
