Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed has said that the Maldives needs to increase its GDP to USD 12 billion and attract 5 million tourists annually if the country wants to reduce debt.

Speaking at the launch of the second phase of Velana International Airport (VIA) at Dharubaaruge last night, Minister Saeed said president Dr Mohamed Muizzu aims to increase the country's GDP to USD 12 billion.

"He came to power to create a GDP of USD 12 billion. or create a much higher GDP," he said.

"We should be attracting 4 or 5 million tourists annually. Unless that situation is changed, the year-on-year deficit we generate, the debt generated by the state, will go up. The relationship between GDP and arrivals is around 2003 to 2022, correlation, the team that made the technical calculation of this brings us 95 percent accuracy. That calculation says the president has to take this decision," Minister Saeed said.

He said the main concern of the aviation industry in the Maldives is the high cost of buying jet fuel from VIA. Although the number of tourists coming to the Maldives has increased in the last few years, industry members are complaining about the short duration of time spent by tourists in the Maldives.

Minister Saeed said that by the time this mega project to develop Velana International Airport is completed, the price of jet fuel sold by VIA will come down and the time spent by tourists in the Maldives will increase.