The Maldives usable reserve reached USD 267 million by the end of 2022, reports Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).
Usable reserve is the amount of funds available after deducting short-term foreign liabilities from the gross reserve. It represents the amount of money available for immediate use for various foreign exchange transactions.
Statistics from the authority indicate the highest usable reserve was observed in March at USD 405 million, and the lowest in October at USD 105 million. After the decline in October, the following months observed a steady increase.
On average the Maldives usable reserve for the past 12-month period stood at USD 290 million.
MMA reported that usable reserves continued to decrease every month after March until October 2022. This decline was due to high fuel prices in the global market, which led to significant reserve spending for fuel.
While the central bank has publicized usable reserve details for 2022, it had discontinued sharing the statistics since 2020. MMA said it discontinued disclosing usable reserve statistics to follow an IMF guideline change to financial reporting.
The gross national reserve is a key indicator of a state’s economic strength. In December 2022, the Maldives gross national reserve stood at USD 827 million while the national reserve have averaged between USD 700 million and USD 800 million over the past five years.
MMA reported the USD 100 million currency swap facility taken from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the increase in the dollar revenues to Maldives, boosted the gross national reserve and usable reserve in December 2022.
MMA has been using the currency swap facility since 2016 to improve national reserves.
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