The Maldives nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to exceed MVR 100 billion for the first time ever, said the Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer.
The minister tweeted, claiming that this was a "testament to the sound macroeconomic policies adopted by the government to achieve steady growth despite the multiple crises that the Maldives has faced".
The minister noted that despite the challenges posed by the Russia-Ukraine war and the outbound travel restrictions imposed by China due to the Covid-19 pandemic, tourist arrivals increased by 26.7 percent in 2022 compared to 2021. Furthermore, this represents a recovery of 98.4 percent of the pre-pandemic levels observed in 2019.
Minister Ameer said that driven by strong performance of the tourism and other related sectors, the real GDP growth for 2023 is expected to increase from the previous forecast of 7.6 percent to 9.4 percent.
He also said that the tourism sector is continuing to perform well in 2023, with tourist arrival numbers being 17.5 percent higher compared to the same period in 2022. He also highlighted that with new flight routes opening up and the recovery of the Chinese market, the arrival forecast for 2023 has increased from 1.81 million to 1.93 million.
The announcement of Maldives exceeding MVR 100 billion in nominal GDP was first made by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
During a press conference held on June 8, 2022, President Solih said that the Maldives' GDP growth rate stood at 13 percent and that the economic growth of the country looked promising.
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