Dear reader, As we welcome you back after a brief hiatus, our focus for Volume 2, Issue 1 of Maldives Economy Today is Maldives tourism and the nation's monetary outlook. The tourism sector, considered the golden goose of the economy, is currently experiencing a concerning downturn due to the global energy and logistics crisis, yet its unique global appeal has enabled a historic resilience while its future potential to expand and diversify on the traditional offering shows si

Should the Maldives float its currency? As the gap between the official and parallel exchange rates widens, the Maldives faces an increasingly urgent policy question; how should the exchange rate system evolve from its current constrained band toward a more sustainable framework? Experience elsewhere suggests that without stronger reserves, robust fiscal discipline, and deeper foreign exchange liquidity, a sudden move to float the currency could create more instability than s

After four decades of treating tourism as the Maldives’ national salvation, the country faces a harsh reality; the sector, while supplying foreign exchange, has not delivered a resilient economy. For more than four decades, successive Maldivian governments have invested heavily in tourism and promoted it as the country’s economic saviour. It became the organising idea of national development; expand resort capacity, attract more arrivals, earn more foreign currency, and assum