Overview
The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) is the central bank. It manages the rufiyaa’s official peg of 15.42 to the US dollar, unchanged since 2011, allocates foreign currency to banks, and administers the mandatory conversion regime under the Foreign Currency Act (32/2024) and Regulation 2024/R-91. Governor Ahmed Munawwar leads it.
Role in the intelligence picture
The MMA sits at the centre of the Dollar Shortage. It sets how many dollars banks receive, decides resort conversion requirements, and holds the data on Foreign Reserves and compliance. Its actions are the main transmission channel from the national FX position into FX Regulation and resort economics, so every MMA statement, circular or silence is a signal.
Recent developments
- 3 to 5 August 2026: published no statement while the parallel rate set records of 21.70 then 21.75; a newsroom tracker, not the MMA, publishes the street rate daily.
- 20 August 2026: revoked the licence of Express Money Exchange, the first named enforcement action, without publishing grounds or customer redress.
- 21 August 2026: Governor Munawwar said the shortage can only be solved if “macro fundamentals are addressed and local currency is enforced for domestic transactions”, putting the parallel rate at around 23.
- 24 August 2026: announced the resort conversion mandate would double from a proposed 20 percent to 40 percent of sales, monthly compliance, with 100 percent named as the eventual goal. Its 23 August compliance report put average resort compliance at 78.55 percent.
- Tightening on the books: bank dollar allocations raised 51 percent for three weeks; reserve requirement rising from 10.5 to 11 percent on 3 September, to 13 percent by end-2027.
Related topics
Foreign Exchange · Dollar Shortage · Foreign Reserves · FX Regulation · FX Risk · Ministry of Finance