Economic activity expanded in the first quarter, supported by the strong growth in the tourism sector: MMA

Maldives central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has said that the overall economic activity has expanded in the first quarter of 2013, supported by the strong growth in the tourism sector.

In their Quarterly Economic Bulletin for the first quarter of 2013, MMA stated that major indicators of the tourism sector such as arrivals and bed-nights showed solid growth rates when compared to last quarter of 2012, as well as the corresponding quarter of 2012.

The central bank also stated that fisheries-related activities continued to expand in the first quarter of 2013, as fish exports volume and earnings from fish exports grew overall.

Meanwhile, slowed activity in the construction sector had in the latter half of 2012 further weakened in first quarter of 2013, largely due to the disruptions to several construction projects caused by shortages in the supply of river sand and aggregate.

As for the distribution sector, mainly consisting of wholesale and retail trade, the economic bulletin states that given the moderate growth in overall economic activity, the sector grew marginally as indicated by private imports.

With regard to the price situation, the rate of inflation decelerated further to 4.7% in first quarter of 2013, which is measured by the percentage change in three-month average of consumer price index (CPI) for Male’.

MMA states that despite the growth in revenue during the first quarter of 2013, the cash flow position of the government continued to deteriorate, owing to increased levels of expenditure.

The aurthority states that the trade defcit improved during the first quarter of 2013, mainly as a result of growth in exports which benefited from buoyant re-exports while imports declined.

However, gross international reserves continued to be on a downward path and further fell at the end of March 2013, after showing increases during the first two months this year.