Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) reports that according to the advance estimates of Quarterly National Accounts for second quarter of 2021, the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rebounded strongly.
Moreover, the central bank of Maldives reported that the real GDP of the country bounced back by 75.3% following the decline of 10.1% during the first quarter of 2021.
However, this strong bounce back is still not enough to exceed above pre-pandemic levels and remained 15.9% below in comparison with Q2-2019.
Furthermore, MMA reports that the strong rebound in the annual GDP growth in the review quarter is mainly from the pick-up in the tourism sector, mirroring the base effect of heavy decline in the sector following international border closure in the corresponding quarter in 2020.
In addition to this, other major sectors had also contributed positively towards the economy including the transport and communication as well as wholesale and retail trade sectors.
Albeit the improvements, quarterly real GDP saw a marked decline compared to the preceding quarter of 2021 owing to the culmination of the tourism peak season and re-imposition of strict containment measures over the rapid resurgence of Covid-19 infections in April 2021.
Meanwhile, a contraction was observed in the construction sector in annual terms. The economic sector had been the fastest growing component pre-pandemic.