As the Foreign Exchange Act states that banks are required to sell foreign currency to the Authority at a percentage that is determined by MMA, the percentage was initially set at 60 percent.
MMA
On 20 May 2025, the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) published some changes that the authority has brought in the foreign exchange policy that is required to be sold by banks to MMA under the Foreign Exchange Act.
The statement published by the authority goes into detail, stating that they have decided to increase the percentage of foreign exchange required to be sold by banks to the Authority under Article 13(H) of Law No. 32/2024 (Foreign Exchange Act) with effect from 1 June 2025. The Foreign Exchange Act, as explained by MMA states that the Act prescribes the transactions that can be carried out in Foreign Currency in the Maldives, the rules on depositing and conversion to Banks of income received in Foreign Currency by businesses, and other matters related to Foreign Currency – meaning that businesses will have a mandatory deposit/transfer of foreign currency to a bank account held with a licensed bank in the Maldives before the 28th day of the third subsequent month after that month.
As the Foreign Exchange Act states that banks are required to sell foreign currency to the Authority at a percentage that is determined by MMA, the percentage was initially set at 60 percent. However, with the recent updates, the authority has now decided to increase the weekly foreign currency sales by banks to the Authority from 60% to 90% with effect from 1 June 2025.
According to MMA, the changes were brought about in order to facilitate the banks to provide the foreign exchange required by the businesses in a more robust manner through the weekly foreign exchange sales by the Authority to the banks. Recently, MMA noted that since the introduction of that Act, there has been an uptick in foreign currency inflow in the Maldives – fostering a better USD cash flow in the Maldives.
