Sending Money Home – Toughest Task

Expatriates working in Maldives and who want to send money home are facing problems. Most of the employees are paid in local currency i.e Maldivian Rufeeya which is used to buy US Dollars.

Current Problem

There is an acute shortage of US Dollars in Maldives for some time and I don’t see any action taken by the Government of Maldives. The banks are not selling Dollars and this has created a black market for US Dollars here. Purchasing US Dollar which has a fixed rate of MRF 12.85 / US Dollars by the Government from the black market (Costs upto Mrf 13.50 / US Dollar). Banks says they do not have US Dollars with them to sell. I was sending money home from the State Bank of India, (Male’ Branch) where I used to pay in Maldivian Rufeeya, but when I went there last month they told that I cannot send as I need to open an account with them and I can send to a SBI branch in India. I did not have an account in SBI, Male’, nor an NRI account in India with SBI. In Bank of Maldives, I need to pay atleast 80% of the amount in US Dollars. If we try other services like MoneyGram or Western Union in Maldives they again instruct to pay in US Dollars.

All the banks in Maldives are facing this problem. I was talking to an high official of a foreign bank in Maldives about this problem yesterday. He was telling that this problem has become very bad in last few months are they expect this go worsen further as he does not see any action taken by the Government. According to him the inflow of Dollars have come down as people are selling Dollars at higher rates and depositing the money in local currencies instead of Dollars. The source of US Dollars in Maldives are resorts, but again the tourism has seen to come down now and its expected to fall further as its low season time now and some effects of Global recession.

Importers are also facing huge problem and most of them are depending on the black market for their daily needs. This has surely increased the prices of products in Maldives. According to a top bank official the best solution for this would be to devalue the Maldivian Rufeeya.

If you are an expatriate working in Maldives, make sure that you send money home in time and don’t delay as the situation could worsen and even chances of devaluation.

Tagged as: Economy, Maldives

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