MMA seeks technical consultant for new office building

Central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has made an announcement seeking a technical consultant for the design and construction of a new office building in Hulhumale’ Phase I.

In the announcement, MMA said it was in the process of constructing a new office building in Hulhumale’ Phase II and as such, was seeking the services of an experienced consultant with the relevant expertise and knowledge, to provide consultancy services in the designing and construction phase of the new office building.

The central bank has requested interested parties to register for bidding by submitting their Expression of Interest (EOI) via email to [email protected] before 11:00am on April 10^th.

Registered bidders who require any further clarification of the bidding documents have been instructed to email their queries to [email protected] before 11:00am on April 17^th.

All bid proposals will have to be submitted to MMA headquarters before 11:00am on April 30^th.

The announcement has come at a time of heightened rumors that the government working on raising around MVR 15 billion by selling a large plot of land from Hulhumale’ to MMA.

During his 2023 presidential campaign, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu vowed he would never print money, as his predecessor had resorted to during the Covid-19 pandemic. He repeatedly reiterated this pledge after coming to power, and listed avoiding printing money as one of the biggest achievements of his administration in its first year.

However, money printing or monetary financing is the practice of a government borrowing money from the central bank to finance public spending instead of selling bonds to private investors or raising taxes. It is not limited to the act of physically printing money.

The plan to print MVR 15 billion met with concern not just from the opposition, but also from economists.

Rumors of plans to print money has been spreading for weeks on social media. However, the administration has yet to make an official comment regarding the subject.

MMA has not commented either.

MMA’s board has seen several resignations since news of the money printing plan broke out. This includes deputy governor Ahmed Imad, who resigned on Monday after warning of “serious macroeconomic consequences” of printing more money in the current delicate economic situation.