Tourism, fisheries, construction and other output oriented activities
Real
Fiscal Sector
Government accounts and budget information
Fiscal
Financial Sector
Financial statistics of MMA, commercial banks and other financial corporations in Maldives
Financial
External sector
Transactions with the rest of the world
External
Advanced Release Calender
Tourist arrivals
In December 2024, total tourist arrivals stood at 208,980, registering an increase of 7.3% compared with the same period of last year. During the month, the highest number of tourist arrivals were recorded from Italy, followed by United Kingdom and Russia.
The rate of inflation (annual percentage change in the national CPI) accelerated to 4.8% in December 2024, from 4.1% in November 2024. The largest contribution to the annual rate of inflation during the month came from Tobacco (1.91 percentage points); Restaurants, cafés and the like (1.55 percentage points); and Fish (0.36 percentage points).
The volume of fish exports decreased by 70.4% in December 2024 compared with the same period of last year. This was mainly driven by the decrease in the export of Fresh, chilled or frozen Skipjack tuna by 86.0% (5,474.0 metric tonnes).
Total government expenditure is estimated to be increased by MVR2.9 billion (6.4%) in 2024 when compared to 2023, driven by current expenditure (an increase of MVR3.8 billion) and capital expenditure (a decrease of MVR1.0 billion).
The annual broad money (M2) growth rate decelerated to -0.1% at the end of December 2024 from 1.7% in November 2024. During the month, the annual growth in broad money was primarily driven by the decrease in narrow money.
Annual growth of credit to private sector by commercial banks decelerated to 6.7% at the end of December 2024 from 8.5% in November 2024. During the month, the largest contribution to the annual growth was from credit allocated for personal loans, real estate sector and commerce sector.
Official reserve assets stood at USD 708.1 million at the end of January 2025, reflecting 5.2% increase from USD 673.2 million at the end of December 2024. Similarly, official reserve assets increased by 28.5% in annual terms during the review period.
Total exports (f.o.b.) in December 2024 decreased by 5.4% compared to the same period last year. This stemmed primarily from the decline in fish exports, despite re-exports observing a rise during the period.
Total imports (c.i.f.) in December 2024 increased by 12.9% compared to the same period last year. This stemmed primarily from the rise in imports of transport equipments and parts and food items.
The current account deficit is expected to narrow to 20.4% of GDP in 2024, after recording 21.3% of GDP in 2023. Similarly, it is projected to narrow to 12.5% of GDP in 2025.
