CEO of Inner Maldives Mohamed Firaq has stated that Maldives is not lacking in USD and that there is only a lack of USD at the bank rate.

During last night's "Both Sides of the Economy" panel discussion held by the Ministry of Economic Development, Transport & Trade, Firaq said that it is not difficult to acquire USD in Maldives and that it is possible to easily get a large amount of dollars.

"It is possible to buy however much we want at inflated prices. We are not facing any difficulties in acquiring USD. We are getting USD with the added artificial price, the added 35 percent," said Firaq.

Regarding Firaq's statements, Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed posed a question at the forum asking whether the market would react if USD prices were reported by newspapers. Firaq answered, stating that the market would react, and that he 100 percent believes there would be changes to the rates if news organizations spoke about it.

Firaq went on to say that it is a crime in some countries and that legal changes need to be brought about for a solution to be found.

Firaq was referring to how many countries view exchange rate manipulation as a crime, which is different from news in the media.

Major business news outlets such as Reuters, Bloomberg, Financial Times, BBC and Al-Jazeera report news about the USD black market. Financial institutions that analyze and research the economy use "parallel market" rates to identify the state of the economy and publish such information.

Firaq said that the state of the USD should be properly researched and the monetary policy should be changed according to modern standards. He said that the solution to Maldives' USD crisis is to change from dual currency to a single currency.

"Financial transaction regulations need to be changed. We need to change to a single currency system," said Firaq.

The Bank of Maldives (BML) has previously stated that they had provided USD 478 million to businesses and private entities in the first six months of 2026.

BML's Head of Marketing and Strategy Mohamed Saeed said that USD 1.2 million is withdrawn from ATMs daily, with average bank deposits ranging between USD 600,000 and USD 700,000. He said that daily USD expenses are double what they receive.

Regarding increasing the amount of USD, Ensis Fisheries Co-Owner Abdul Wahid Thowfeeq said during the panel discussion that Maldives' fisheries industry needs to be expanded in order to find a solution to the USD crisis, and that even more businesses need to step into the industry. He stated that after the tourism industry, it is fisheries that bring in the highest amount of USD.

"Relative to the industry, fisheries bring in the most amount of USD. For a long time, it was just the government and now there are changes after more than 20 years with additional policies. Even so, the changes can be accelerated even further and increase the fisheries sales by more than 10 times the current amount. The challenge faced by the fisheries sales is a lack of fish production," said Thowfeeq.

He continued by stating that more USD can be funneled into Maldives via businesses from new industries, which can in turn increase the amount of USD in the economy.