GDP per capita rises to over USD 8,000, 10 percent rise

President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has announced the Gross Domestic Product per capita of Maldives rose to over USD 8,000 in 2016.

The statement was made during the presidential address to People’s Majlis in Dharubaaruge this Monday morning to inaugurate Majlis for 2017.

President Yameen said the GDP per capita of Maldives in 2016 was USD 8,063.

The amount is a 10 percent increase compared to the USD 7,335 recorded by National Bureau of Statistics as GDP per capita of Maldives in 2015.

But the amount falls short of the USD 12,000 GDP per capita promised by President Yameen in earlier speeches.

Commenting on additional economic statistics, President Yameen said the State earned MVR 18.1 billion as income in 2016 and spent MVR 22.4 billion in expenditure.

He said the government forecasted it will earn MVR 21.9 billion as income in 2017, while reducing expenditure to MVR 22.2 billion.

“Therefore the budget deficit in 2017 will be reduced by MVR 303.7 million, leading to a primary balance of MVR 1.1 billion,” he said.

President Yameen said the budget deficit will be 0.5 percent of the GDP forecasted by the government for 2017.