The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has recorded USD49 million as outward remittances the total value of outward remittances was USD49 million in 2022.
The Payments Bulletin report issued by the Monetary Authority of Maldives (MMA) showed that remittance services are currently provided in Maldives by two PSPs licensed by the MMA in addition to the banks. The majority of the total remittance transactions conducted by the parties are for outward remittances. The report showed that although a significant increase in the demand for remittance service was observed in 2020 compared to 2019, overall transactions conducted by remittance service providers have declined by 35% over the four-year period between 2019-2022. It was a reduction from USD80 million to USD52 million.
The report showed that the total value of outward remittances was USD49 million in 2022, representing 94% of the total value of transactions. The remaining 6%, with a total value of USD3 million, were for inward remittances. Out of the total value of outward remittances, transactions conducted by foreigners amounted to USD36.3 million while the remaining USD12.7 million were transactions initiated by Maldivians. It denotes that 74% of outward remittances were initiated by foreigners while only 26% were initiated by Maldivians. As for the value of inward remittances conducted in 2022, a significant majority of the transactions were received by Maldivians with 76% of the total value while the remaining 24% was received by foreigners.
The report also showed that while a total of USD2.3 million of inward remittances were received by Maldivians, 22.8% of the value was received from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2022. In addition, Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Philippines were among the top three recipient countries in terms of the total value of outward remittances initiated by foreigners in 2022.