The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has revealed that businesses in all major industries increased in the third quarter of 2023.
In the latest Quarterly Business Survey, employment levels grew for businesses in all the surveyed sectors, with the tourism sector registering the most notable increase in hires in the third quarter of this year. Meanwhile, the pace of new hires in the construction sector reported no change compared to the previous quarter.
The survey showed that the tourism sector is expected to see further growth with the tourism peak season commencing in the fourth quarter of this year. However, businesses in the wholesale and retail sector and the construction sector anticipate the performance of the sectors to moderate in the fourth quarter.
The survey also highlighted a turnaround in the transportation and communications industry, which faced declines in the first two quarters of this year but exhibited growth in the third quarter. The growth resulted in a significant number of job opportunities being created in the industry during the third quarter.
The Quarterly Business Survey is carried out by MMA with the aim of obtaining a quick assessment of current business trends and expected future economic activity. The respondents of the business survey are senior managers or top management of businesses in the sectors of tourism, construction, wholesale, retail, transport, and communication. The questions cover the views of the senior management, for the past quarter and expectations for the next quarter, on the direction of change in various business variables such as sales, output, prices, capacity utilisation, and employment which are useful for analysing and predicting economic activity.