The Sovereign Development Fund (SDF) currently has MVR 700 million remaining after investing MVR 400 million, statistic shows.
Statistics released by the Finance Ministry show that the SDF had MVR 1.1 billion by the end of 2021. However, the balance of the fund has decreased by MVR 400 million within a month. Finance Ministry said that the funds were withdrawn by the government to invest.
The fund is frequently utilized to invest in T-bills sold by the government. Therefore, a large part of it is spent on providing recurrent expenditure on the government.
MVR 3.8 billion has been deposited into the SDF over the past five years since it was established in 2017. At present, only 18 percent of the money deposited into SDF is available to be used.
SDF was set up during former President Abdulla Yameen’s administration as a means to save money to pay off the state debt. It is managed under an agreement between Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and the Finance Ministry.
The fee charged from passengers departing from Velana International Airport is deposited into the SDF Fund. This is USD 12 charged from Maldivians travelling in economy class and USD 30 charged from expatriates. Passengers travelling by business class will be required to pay USD 60, while first class travellers are charged USD 90. Passengers travelling by private jets USD 120.
MMA has advised the state to deposit funds into the SDF in order to achieve the objectives of establishing the fund; to utilize it to repay current debt.
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