Government expects economic growth to reach 10 percent with Hanimaadhoo and Gan airports

The government expects economic growth of around 10 percent once the Hanimaadhoo and Gan international airports are fully developed, Finance Minister Moosa Zameer said in Parliament today.

Minister Zameer said that expanding airport infrastructure in the north and south, along with the addition of new tourism beds in those regions, could generate growth comparable to the tourism boom of the 1980s and 1990s. Tourism capacity rose from 200 to 11,300 beds during the 1980s, when annual GDP growth averaged 10 percent.

Speaking during today’s budget debate on the state budget for next year, Minister Zameer said concerns had been raised at various stages of budget negotiations over the country’s economic growth outlook.

He said the completion of the Hanimaadhoo and Gan airport projects would help unlock regional development.

“I believe the growth observed in the 1980s and 90s will be seen again,” he said.

The projections, he added, were based on analysis by economists at the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and the finance ministry.

“I believe it will be sustainable based on the forecasts that MMA and our economists have examined. Our forecasts are based on historical data,” he said.

Minister Zameer said additional initiatives were being considered to expand the economy, including work on an international financial centre.

Hanimaadhoo International Airport was modernized and opened on 9 November with a USD 136 million (MVR 2 billion) line of credit from India’s Exim Bank.

The project includes a new 2.7km runway, a terminal capable of handling 1.3 million passengers annually, an aerobridge, duty-free lounge, air-traffic control tower, cargo building, fuel farm and a seaplane jetty.