Attorney General Ahmed Usham has said the Government currently has no plans to introduce further amendments to the Foreign Currency Act concerning the exchange of US dollars.
Under amendments to the law, Category A tourism establishments must exchange 40 per cent of their foreign currency revenue through the Maldivian banking system. Tourism businesses must comply with the revised requirement from October.
The issue arose during a press conference at the President's Office, when a journalist asked whether the Government was considering easing the amount of foreign currency tourism businesses must exchange through the Maldivian banking system to minimise the impact of disruptions to the global economy on the Maldives' tourism sector.
Responding to the question, Attorney General Usham said the Government amended the Foreign Currency Act after considering studies conducted by the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), the country's central bank. He said the studies indicated that the amount of foreign currency tourism establishments must exchange should be increased and that, as a result, the Government had no plans to introduce another amendment to the law.
"We increased the amount that must be exchanged to 40 per cent because studies conducted by the MMA also indicated that this was a necessary change. The Government currently has no intention of proposing any further amendment to the law," Attorney General Usham said.
The amendment now in force also requires certain parties to deposit their foreign currency income into a bank account. The requirement applies to sellers and service providers in the tourism sector, as well as other parties that received the equivalent of at least USD 25 million in foreign currency from the sale of goods or provision of services during the previous calendar year.
These parties must deposit the funds into an account opened with a bank operating under a licence issued by MMA. They must also share details of the account used to deposit the funds with the authority.
The amendment further requires Category A tourism establishments to exchange 40 per cent of their total foreign currency income received during a calendar month into Maldivian rufiyaa.
Foreign currency exchange businesses must operate under a licence issued by MMA. The amendment also includes provisions setting out measures against parties that exchange currency without a licence or in violation of the regulations.
The amendments to the Foreign Currency Act also make it an offence to sell or advertise US dollars at a rate different from that determined by MMA. Parties buying and selling foreign currency must conduct transactions at rates, or within bands, determined and published by the authority and must not exceed those limits.
The law further states that selling, or attempting to sell, foreign currency outside the prescribed rate constitutes an offence.