6 percent increase in usable reserves

Economic review for the month of February shows a six percent increase in State’s usable reserves.

The monthly economic review released by Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) last Wednesday shows the State’s usable reserves stood at USD 213.3 million at the end of February, 2017; a six percent monthly increase compared to the USD 201.5 million in usable reserves the State had at the end of January, 2017.

Usable reserves show funds readily available for use by MMA in the foreign exchange market.

It’s used to acquire basic necessities such as food, medicine and fuel.

The monthly economic review shows Gross International Reserves (GIR) increased from USD 476.1 million to USD 516.8 million by the end of February.

The increase comes after a significant depletion in GIR in December when MMA bought a USD 140 million (MVR 2.2 billion) bond from Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) to compensate Indian company, GMR, over termination of contract to run Maldivian national airport.

Total outstanding stock of government securities including treasury bonds and treasury bills stood at MVR 23.2 billion at end of February. It’s a MVR 83.8 million increase compared to January.

The increase is due to increase in treasury bill investments by other financial corporations which offset the decline in treasury bill investments by commercial banks in February.