Author: Mohamed Reehaan

The Maldives Parliament’s Committee on Economic Affairs has approved Hussain Zareer as the new Commissioner General of Taxation. The former Deputy Commissioner General of Taxation received the post after Fathuhulla Jameel – who was appointed as the Commissioner General of Taxation in 2019 resigned earlier on February 01, 2024 to contest in this year’s parliamentary election. Maldives President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu sent his nominations for the post – selected among candidates who responded to an open application, and were ranked based on the President’s preference – on March 13, 2024. The President had nominated Yazeed Mohamed, who was the Commission…

According to the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) in their Quarterly Business Survey for 2024 first quarter, the employment rose for businesses in all sectors except for the wholesale and retail trade sector. Besides this, tourism sector reported a moderation in the pace of new hires during the review quarter. For the wholesale and retail trade sector, the rate of decline in employment levels moderated compared to the preceding fourth quarter in 2023. Businesses in tourism sector turned pessimistic following the end of tourism peak season in the review quarter. Moreover, input prices remained elevated across all the surveyed sectors by…

To commemorate Children’s Day 2024, the State Electric Company (STELCO) has announced an exciting new event; “Be A Junior Engineer”. The one-day event, scheduled for May 10, 2024, next Friday will be held at the STELCO Head Office, Male’ City from 08:00hrs to 10:00hrs and then again from 16:00hrs to 18:00hrs. The “Be A Junior Engineer” one-day event is aimed at fostering the love and enthusiasm among youngsters and children towards pursuing a career in the energy and power sector. With this event, STELCO aims to provide valuable insight and knowledge about the professional career opportunities in the sector, and…

Maldives International Financial Services Authority (MIFSA) on Sunday evening, unveiled its official logo. The Minister of Economic Development and Trade Mohamed Saeed shared the official logo of the new government institution on X, adding its administrative and operational proceedings were afoot with strategies and operational framework currently being finalized. Earlier on Tuesday last week, the former Vice President Abdulla Jihad was appointed as the Chairman of MIFSA. The new institution was established by the Maldives President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu in accordance with the authority he is conferred by Article 116 of the Maldives Constitution. MIFSA falls under the mandate of…

Maldivian, the national carrier of the island nation, on Sunday, May 05, 2024 reports that the newest addition to its fleet will arrive in three days. The national airline confirmed that the new ATR aircraft will be heading to Male’ from Toulouse, which will be operated by Captains Mohamed Mubah and Ali Yanish along with flight engineer Ahmed Abdul Hakeem. Maldivian is currently adding ATR’s more contemporary aircraft to its fleet in an attempt to fully replace the older Dash-8 Twin Otters, of which the manufacturer no longer provides new spares or aircraft.

Tourist arrivals to the Maldives in annual terms have reached 794,109; a 12.3% increase compared to the same period last year. According to the Ministry of Tourism, tourist arrivals for the same period last year stood at 707,306. Russia has meanwhile, reclaimed its second spot from United Kingdom, which has slipped to third spot. China remains unchallenged at the top place with close to 90,000 arrivals so far. Top 10 Markets China – 87,168 Russia – 80,160 UK – 76,823 Italy – 71,536 Germany – 61,959 India – 43,991 France – 30,063 USA – 27,796 Switzerland – 20,078 Poland –…

Fish exports from the Maldives saw a steep decline in the first quarter of 2024, reports Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA). According to MMA in its most recent statistics, fish exports for the first quarter of 2024 stood at USD 28.4 million, which is a significant 43.9% decline compared to USD 50.7 million observed in the same quarter last year. Fish purchases saw decline in the review quarter as well, as it dropped 33.5% in Q1-2024 from 34.3% in the corresponding quarter in 2023. Individually, skipjack tuna purchases for Q1-2024 saw a 33.0% drop while yellowfin tuna purchases declined 36.4%. Moreover,…

Male’ Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC) Private Limited on Sunday announced its decision to extend discounts to domestic customers. In a statement from MWSC, the previous month’s billing cycle is from March 11, 2024 to April 11, 2024; for which has extended a collective total of MVR 14.13 million in discounts, which is 24.5% of the total consumption of the domestic category. MWSC said that the water and electricity charges for Ramadan had varying figures, due to which it decided on extending discounts for the bills issued in Ramadan and for the water used during Ramadan. If the amount in…

State Electric Company (STELCO) has announced that it will be providing discounts to customers who already paid for the undiscounted utility bills issued earlier. STELCO Managing Director Hussain Fahmy confirmed this via X on Saturday, adding that the customers who paid for their utility bills before the extension of discounts will have the difference after calculating the discount, reflected on the following utility bill; meaning the the difference from the original billed amount and the discounted amount will be deducted from the following month’s bill. Earlier, STELCO pulled back its earlier issued bills and said it was calculating the discounted…

The exchange rate of US Dollar has once again dropped in the Maldivian black market. Frequent exchangers report US Dollar is currently sold between MVR 17.30 and MVR 17.65, which is a reduction between MVR 0.20 and MVR 0.30. At the start of the current fiscal year, US Dollar was exchanged between the rates of MVR 17.70 and MVR 18.00. Local businesses and exchangers comment this decline is due to the steep increment in US dollar circulation in the Maldives market. While the exchange rate has shown decline, for larger denomination and bulky exchanges, the current rates are between MVR…