The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has decided to take two significant measures to control the amount of Maldivian rufiyaa circulating in the country’s economy.

The MMA Board has decided to raise the Minimum Reserve Requirement (MRR) that banks are required to maintain with the authority, along with expanding Open Market Operations (OMO). The objective of these two measures is to gradually reduce the excess money, or surplus liquidity, in the banking system.

Accordingly, starting September, the MRR will be raised from 10.5% to 11.0%. In addition, the authority has set a target of gradually increasing this rate every three months after market analysis, reaching 13% by December 2027. It has also been decided to raise the OMO by 10 basis points.

According to MMA statistics, since the OMO resumed in July 2025 through the end of this July, an average of MVR 2.7 billion has been withdrawn from the banking system. As a result, short-term liquidity has fallen from MVR 6.5 billion to MVR 3.7 billion.

The MMA introduced these changes at a time when the dollar’s value on the black market has surged to record levels, and public complaints have grown louder. Over the past two and a half years, the dollar’s value has risen from MVR 17 to MVR 21.60.

The government believes the root of this problem lies in the previous MDP administration printing more than MVR 8 billion during the COVID-19 period. As a result, rufiyaa in the economy increased, adversely affecting the dollar market, according to the government. Alongside the rising dollar, prices of goods in the market are also climbing.