In a bid to curb the long queues in the capital Male to purchase US dollars from local banks, the Maldives central bank Saturday and announced a complete overhaul of the current system.
During a press conference on Saturday, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) said during the upcoming school holidays, MMA would takeover the US dollar sale to the public from Sunday until January 7 next year.
After January 7, the airport departure lounge would become the new and sole official avenue for the public to purchase US dollars.
Governor Dr Azeema Adam said MMA have established as many as 10 counters to issue US dollars where customers would have to spend less than three minutes to purchase US dollars as opposed to several hours in long queues outside banks in the capital at present.
"We would sell US dollars when you present the passport and air-ticket. But you would no longer have to stand in long queues," Azeema announced.
Statistics show a weekly USD4.3 million since MMA designated the sale of USD through the local banks.
MMA had revealed that it sells 32 percent of its dollar intake to the public each year amounting to over USD200 million.
