Committee Meeting - People's Majlis of Maldives

Summary

During today's meeting, the committee met with the members of The Maldives Trade Association (MTA) upon their request to share their concerns with the committee regarding Maldives Ports Limited's decision to shift back to charging certain fees in US dollars from 01st April. In this regard, MTA raised their concerns about MPL’s sudden change to revert back to payment of fees in US Dollar from Maldivian Ruffiyya without any discussions with the businesses and stakeholders and an adequate timeframe before implementation. Furthermore, due to this change with the shortage in dollar market, businesses are forced to buy US dollars at a higher rate than the market rate which in return will affect the prices of the goods and services and small business adversely. Moreover, MTA stated that this is not the right time for this change as the economy is struggling and especially when there is severe shortage in US dollar in the economy.