The Maldives’ official foreign reserves fell to USD 638.03 million at the end of July, down USD 48.8 million from USD 686.83 million at the end of June, and USD 136.47 million from the same period last year.
According to the central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA)’s Reserve Data Template, usable reserves fell to USD 221.8 million, from USD 248.9 million in the previous month. This is a decline of USD 27.1 million.
Meanwhile, official reserves fell sharply from USD 1.3 billion in March 2026 to USD 683.03 million in July mainly because of major debt repayments in the following month. In April, the current government repaid USD 524.68 million for a sukuk inherited from the previous government, using the Sovereign Development Fund (SDF) and state reserves. The Maldives also repaid its USD 400 million currency-swap facility with India in the same month, contributing to the large dips in reserves.
In July, foreign-exchange outflows exceeded inflows received by the central bank. The central bank sold more dollars to meet demand for transport, medical treatment and Umrah, with these sales rising 172 percent from June.
The central bank has increased the amount of foreign currency it sells to banks each week by 51 percent, aiming to ease businesses’ difficulty obtaining dollars for imports, telegraphic transfers (TT) and line of credit (LC) payments.