The Maldives’ official reserves fell to USD547 million at the end of September, down 14.9 percent from USD643.9 million a month earlier, according to statistics from the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).

Usable reserves also declined by 15.4 percent, falling from USD200.6 million in August to USD169.8 million in September.

MMA said the decline in official reserves was mainly due to the amount of foreign currency sold by the central bank exceeding the amount it received.

The authority reported that its foreign exchange sales increased by 46.9 percent compared with August. It attributed the increase to a USD50 million repayment to the government in September.

As in previous months, the MMA also sold dollars to banks in September to improve access to foreign currency and provide further relief to the foreign exchange market.