Central bank Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has stated that the prices of goods will see a decline for the remainder of the year.

The Quarterly Report published by MMA last Thursday noted that while the inflation rate stood at 3.1 percent in the last quarter of 2022, the rate rose to 3.9 percent as a result of the GST hike from 6 percent to 8 percent.

Although MMA predicted that the inflation rate could potentially hike to 5.4 percent by the end of the year, they have now revised the prediction to 3.4 percent.

MMA stressed that the inflation rate would see a declining for the rest of the quarters. The bank noted that the decline is a result of decreasing fuel prices across the globe, with which prices of certain items have also dropped.

While MMA has predicted that the inflation rate would decrease this year, the Maldivian economy grew by 13.9 percent last year, going back to pre-pandemic levels.