Dollar shortage was caused by the excess MRF 300 billion- Shiyam

Chairman of Suntravels, Ahmed Shiyam Mohamed has said that Maldives is facing a shortage of foreign currency not because of the decrease of foreign currency income but rather because of the excess 300 billion Ruffiya printed by the government from 2004 to 2009.

Speaking to Miadhu Daily, Shiyam said that in the last two to four years, the foreign currency income of the country has been gradually increasing. He said that he believes that the foreign currency income of this year will be even much greater than that earned in the past.

However, Shiyam said that the demand for foreign currency increased with the government printing excess bank notes to over come the affects of the government expending more than the its income.

He said that in the year 2004 the government have been expending two times more than their income by printing excess bank notes. He noted that the government stopped printing new bank notes at the end of year 2009.

In view of the recent allegations the foreign currency income of Maldivian resorts are changed in the black market, Shiyam said that he does not believe that it is true. He said that it is unreasonable for any resort to sell the foreign currency at the cost of a little profit they might get in the black-markets when they are run on Bank loans and deposit their earnings in the Banks.

“The dollars available in black-markets are those of some people who earn their wages in dollars and are of those who earn dollars from small businesses. They are not the dollars earned by resorts,” he said.