Economic Ministry launches Economic Research Centre

Economic Ministry has launched an Economic Research Centre (ERC) in the Maldives that will focus on research with respect to the economic field and workplace environment.

ERC was launched with assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed back in February of this year.

Housing Minister Ahmed Aslam inaugurated ERC during a special event held at Hotel Jen on Wednesday. 

The event was attended by Economic Minister Fayyaz Ismail, Fisheries Minister Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan, Tourism Minister Dr. Abdulla Mausoom, and the UNDP’s Residential Representative for the Maldives, Enrico Gaveglia.

Fayyaz said that ERC is an important project for completing the open data policy of this government’s manifesto.

“The importance of sound and evidence-based policy research cannot be understated. There are multiple streams of data being collected at various levels of government and state institutions. This is critical information to policymakers but historically has never been in a form that is easily accessible. The Economic Research Center provides us this opportunity to make informed decisions and measure policy outcomes in a much closer lens. Especially, continually researching and finding out the impacts of the important changes that past governments have made over the years is very important,” he said.

While different Ministries have collected data - Minister Fayyaz said that the data is not available in an organized or easy fashion.

While speaking at the event, Aslam also highlighted the importance of ERC. 

He further said that as Maldives is a developing nation, foreign organizations that research and monitor Maldives’ economic situation want research done in the Maldives and that they will not conduct their own research in Maldives.

He said that it’s important to develop and maintain the research done here to fit their standards.

“All the nations in our world want to be powerful in terms of money and influence. The shift from an underdeveloped to a developing nation will change the way other countries view the Maldives,” Aslam said.

ERC's website was also launched during yesterday's ceremony. The research paper can be viewed from the website.