Central Bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has revealed that their usable reserves stood at USD 45 million at the end of July.

The purpose of the usable reserve is to import essential commodities such as oil and medicines required by the country.

MMA's comments about the usable reserves come at a time when a letter sent by the authority to the Finance Ministry, expecting the reserves to be depleted by the end of this month had leaked in the media today.

The letter was quoted as saying that the usable reserves fell to USD 17.6 million last month.

However, the MMA said in a statement to the media that the dollars deposited in the Sovereign Development Fund (SDF) have been included in the reserve for use after being deposited with the MMA under an agreement signed in 2019 with the MMA and the Finance Ministry. However, since December last year, it has been put to an end.

The MMA said the SDF currently has USD 65 million in usable reserves while the total usable reserves stood at USD 45 million in July this year. The amount in the usable reserve does not include the amount in the SDF.

The MMA added that the country's tourism-related industries are expected to grow further than previously expected in the rest of the year, which will also positively impact the reserve.

The government is also working to secure financing for foreign exchange transactions of the government and government-owned companies from various foreign sources, he said.