Government will bolster income and develop businesses: President Solih

The government intends to bolster income while drastically increasing foreign reserves, by bringing about extensive changes to the Maldivian economy, says President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

President Solih said in his address at this year’s inaugural parliamentary session that the state can generate MVR 30 billion within the next five years, and that usable foreign reserves have been increased significantly in the past two months.

In this regard, Solih said that while the usable reserves were at USD 757.8 million at the end of the year, this amount has been increased by nearly 50 million in the past month, adding that this is the highest that Maldives’ foreign reserves have been since 2012.

President Solih also said that his administration believes that the state can generate an income of MVR 23.3 billion this year.

This figure, as the president highlighted, is over 7 percent higher than the income generated in 2019.

Solih said that Maldives currently has debts of up to MVR 43.8 billion, 53 percent of GDP, revealing that there was budgetary deficit of 3.8 billion.

The president further expressed his guarantee that the economic growth can be maintained at 7.6 percent, while maintaining inflation rates at 1.3 percent.

Solih also said that the newly established SME Development Finance Corporation will begin giving out loans to small and medium-sized enterprises within the month.

The government has also established an ‘export council’, which will manage the sale of local goods in international markets.