The Bank of Maldives (BML) has decided to charge a 30 percent fee on each payment from popular shopping sites among Maldivians.
This came after the national bank announced the decision to increase the foreign transaction limit on its Maldivian Rufiyaa Debit card to USD 500.
The list of sites to be subject to the 30 percent fee includes Temu, Shein, Alibaba, Ali Express, Lazada and eBay.
BML said this fee will not be charged on payments to any sites that are not on the list, such as ticketing, hotel booking and subscription services.
The national bank earlier noted that foreign transactions with these sites were a reason for the dollar shortage in the bank.
According to sources, the bank pays USD 20 million a month for the sites on the list. This is around USD 240 million a year.
