- 61 new foreign investments registered
- Increase of 20 percent compared to last year
- Tourism sector tops investment rank
Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed says the number of registered foreign investors has increased by 20 percent compared to last year and is close to hitting US$ 1.2 billion.
Speaking to Avas, Minister Saeed said that in the first eight months of this year, 61 new foreign investors had registered in the country, noting that this was a remarkable achievement. He said tourism sector had topped investments, adding that investors from 20 different nations had signed up to invest in the country.
"Investors had registered in foreign direct investments and foreign investment relative areas. This is from 20 different countries. Out of this 65 percent went to tourism sector. An additional 35 percent went to construction, wholesale, trading, logistics, shipping, mariculture and sectors such as transport," Saeed said.
Minister Saeed said the total foreign investments this year is around US$ 1.2 billion.
"If we're talking about values its around [US$ 1.2 billion] worth of investment. Each of these values will have certain implementation stages. This is the committed values in this eight months, over different stages in five years," Saeed said.
Minister Saeed further added that Maldives is now one of the countries easiest to conduct business in.
"With the implementation of President Yameen's economic vision, up to now we've seen many successes. If a research if conducted then we can see that Maldives is the easiest country in this region to start a business," he said
While Ministry statistics show that foreign investment had increased, the Government had implemented many reforms, including legal reforms, to boost investments.
