While these changes have been implemented, the foreign transaction limit using the BML card for international transfers and purchases still remains unchanged at USD 750 for credit cards and USD 250 using debit cards.
Source: Bank of Maldives
Things may finally slowly be getting back to normal as the Bank of Maldives (BML) announces that the bank has removed the monthly withdrawal limit imposed on US dollars.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank took several measures as the Maldives economy was hit extremely hard and the tourism industry came to a halt. Due to this reason, there was not much dollar inflow to the country and according to the bank, they had to implement these measures in order to ensure that primary focus was given to supporting those businesses and transactions that essentially needed dollars resulting in the dollar limit being imposed on users of debit cards as well as credit cards.
Bank then, withdrawal limits were imposed, which became an issue for many, especially during the pandemic. While the reasoning for imposing the limit was understandable, regardless of the pandemic and economy, citizens still required dollars for many reasons including travelling abroad for health check-ups. However, over time, people learnt how to live with this new dollar limit but the difficulties that arose with this new limit never changed.
After almost two years of living on such limits, BML has announced that they have lifted the monthly USD cash withdrawal limit of USD 2,000 and customers can finally withdraw up to USD 1,600 per day. While these changes have been implemented, the foreign transaction limit using the BML card for international transfers and purchases still remains unchanged at USD 750 for credit cards and USD 250 using debit cards.
However, customers with debit cards linked to a USD account as a primary account can continue to use cards for foreign transactions up to USD 3,000 daily. International Money Transfers through Internet or Mobile Banking can also be processed from USD accounts.
