The exchange rate for the US Dollar on the black market has surged to MVR 20.80.
Earlier last week, the dollar was trading at MVR 20.50. However, rates began to climb starting Thursday.
A businessman who spoke to Adhadhu noted that some sellers are now charging as much as MVR 20.85 per dollar. He added that the rate is expected to rise even further due to the upcoming school holidays.
Under President Mohamed Muizzu’s administration, the value of the Maldivian Rufiyaa has depreciated sharply, leading to an acute dollar shortage. The spike in the dollar rate comes at a time when foreign currency inflows have decreased, dollar expenditure remains high, and the country faces record-high external debt repayments.
In an attempt to resolve the dollar crisis, the government has mandated that resorts exchange a fixed amount of foreign currency. However, despite these changes, the price of the dollar has continued to trend upward.
Lowering the dollar rate to MVR 15.42, or even lower, was a key campaign pledge. However, Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed recently claimed that the failure to bring down the rate is due to the actions of the previous administration.
"The previous government suspended the law and continued to print money. We warned then that we would face the consequences of those actions today. They also spoke of the band between MVR 10 and MVR 15 during President Nasheed’s administration. The people are still struggling to recover from the impact of those decisions," Saeed said.
