The central bank building in the capital Male. MIHAARU FILE PHOTO/MOHAMED SHARUHAAN
The Maldives’ official reserve for the month of July had dropped to USD 611.8 million with a decrease of USD 10.8 million from June, reported Maldives’ central bank.
According to Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA)’s statistics, the usable reserves by the end of July had also gone decreased by three percent from June, which is a decrease of five percent.
MMA stated in its monthly economic review that the Maldives’ usable reserves had been at USD 207.9 million by the end of July. MMA attributed this decrease in the reserves to the spike in US Dollar sales by the authority to banks and businesses in July to compensate for the recent lack in US Dollars in the Maldives.
The economic review stated that the official reserves recorded at the end of July can cover the import expenses of 3.6 months.
Government issued securities up in July
MMA’s statistics show that the amount of government securities issued in July were MVR 21.2 billion to accommodate the state’s cash flow. This amount is a 13 percent increase from last year. The central bank stated that the amount of unpaid claims had spiked with a 13 percent increase in unpaid T-Bills and 12 percent increase in unpaid T-bonds.
T-Bills are securities sold by the government to banks, state-run companies and Maldives Pension Administration Office (MPAO) to be repaid within a short period with a certain interest rate. T-Bonds are long-term securities sold to banks and MPAO by the state.
According to the economic review, the amount of issued T-Bills had spiked due to an increase of 27 percent in T-Bills sold to banks. Meanwhile, the unpaid claims of T-Bonds had increased in July as MPAO had converted some T-Bills it had bought to a T-Bond in 2015.