Customs has revealed that goods worth 1.9 million rufiyaa have been imported so far this year under the Free Trade Agreement between China and the Maldives. According to statistics disclosed by Customs, in the first 18 days of this year, clearance has been completed for 1.9 million rufiyaa worth of goods imported from China under the Free Trade Agreement. This includes nine shipments brought by air and three shipments brought by sea.
The CIF value of the nine shipments brought by air is 882,381 rufiyaa. The CIF value of the three shipments brought by sea is 1,040,875 rufiyaa or 1.04 million rufiyaa. The Maldives and China signed the Free Trade Agreement during former President Abdulla Yameen’s visit to China on December 18, 2014. Despite opposition from then-opposition parties, the agreement was approved and passed by the parliament, which had a PPM/MDA coalition majority, on November 29, 2017.
The then-opposition figures in the previous government mainly criticized that the FTA would not benefit the Maldives. Therefore, the previous government did not implement the agreement. To bring ease to the business sector, President Dr. Muizzu’s government prioritizes making such currency settlement arrangements with major markets that conduct a large number of trade transactions with the Maldives. As such, this agreement has been implemented from January 1 of this year under his government.
