India has decided to increase the import quota of basic commodities demanded by the Maldives for next year, under the Agreement on Trade Cooperation implemented since 1981. The Indian High Commission has revealed that quota was increased to a significant amount in comparison to the allocation of quotas for previous years, while assuring that the commodities can be obtained at special prices.
The goods subjected to be imported from India following the special quota imposed includes onion, rice, sugar, flour, potatoes, eggs, dhal, river sand and stone aggregates. While there has been a 5% augmentation in quotas designated for essential food items, the quota for river sand and gravel utilised for burgeoning construction has been 1,000,000 metric tons, attributing to a noteworthy increase of 25%.
Details on this remarkable move is as follows:
- Eggs: 428 million
- Potatoes: 21,000 metric tons
- Onions: 36,000 metric tons
- Rice: 124,000 metric tons
- Flour: 109,000 metric tons
- Sugar: 64,000 metric tons
- Dhal: 224 metric tons
- River sand: 1,000,000 metric tons
- Stone aggregates: 1,000,000 metric tons
The last agreement pretraining the import of basic commodities to the Maldives by India was signed in 2021. The contract validated for three years expired in March.