Welcome to the Monthly Review of Maldives Business Times. In this segment, all the important economic developments across all sectors in the country will be highlighted and detailed.
The information required for the monthly review panel is collected from relevant state institutions which include; Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Finance, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and Maldives Bureau of Statistics.
Tourism
As per information reported from Ministry of Tourism and corroborated by Maldives Bureau of Statistics the total tourist arrivals recorded for October 2021 stood at 142,066. The arrival figure in October observed a 23.6% growth compared to September 2021 – during which the arrival total stood at 114,896.
Moreover, tourist bed-nights were observed at a total of 1,014,493 in review month and observed an increment of 36.6% compared to the preceding month where it stood at 742,923.
The registered bed-capacity had also increased to 56,034 in October from 55,666 in September while the operational bed-capacity in October was 51,740 while the operational bed-capacity in September stood at 51,084. Meanwhile the capacity utilization rate-average increased to 63.3% in the review month compared to 48.6% in September 2021.
Consumer Price Index
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) observed on a national basis on October 2021 stood at 99.04 compared to 98.95 on September.
Meanwhile, the consumer price index for all groups rose by 0.08% in review month compared to the fall of -0.30% in September 2021. In addition to this, the month-on-month CPI increased to 0.14% in review month whereas in Male’ City exclusively the CPI fell by -0.18% while in the atolls it rose by 0.57%.
Public Finance
The total state revenue inclusive of grants in October 2021 reached MVR1,316.3 million (MVR1.3 billion); as reported by Ministry of Finance and corroborated by Maldives Bureau of Statistics.
However, the revenues inclusive of grants observed a month-on-month decline since in September 2021 it stood at MVR2,310.6 million (MVR2.3 billion).
The revenue collection observed for October 2021 in major tax and non-tax categories include;
- Tourism Goods and Services Tax (TGST) – MVR350.4 million
- Import Duty – MVR219.4 million
- SOE Dividends – MVR10.1 million
- Rent from Resorts – MVR65.1 million
- General Goods and Services Tax (GGST) – MVR234.6 million
- Business Profit Tax (BPT) – MVR39.3 million
On the other hand, the expenditures observed for the review month include recurrent expenditure at MVR2,342.3 million (MVR2.3 billion) and capital expenditure at MVR1,474.8 million (MVR1.47 billion) – the total state expenditure for October 2021 stood at MVR3,817.2 million (MVR3.8 billion).
Moreover, the main components of recurrent expenditure include;
- Salaries, Wages and Pensions – MVR849.8 million
- Administrative and Operational Expenses – MVR1,491.6 million
Meanwhile, the state has spent MVR127.7 million on subsidies and MVR125.9 million on Aasandha scheme in October.
External Trade
The monetary total of exports in October stood at MVR219.3 million compared to MVR173.1 million in September 2021.
On the other hand, the monetary total of imports in the review month stood at MVR3,814.2 million (MVR3.8 billion) whereas in September the import total stood at MVR3,482.1 million (MVR3.48 billion).