India And Maldives Central Banks Agree To Boost Trade In Local Currencies

By Shakir Husain

NEW DELHI, Nov 22 (Bernama) -- The central banks of India and the Maldives have agreed to boost cross-border transactions in their national currencies.

A memorandum of understanding for establishing a framework to promote the use of the Indian rupee (INR) and the Maldivian rufiyaa (MVR) was signed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das and Maldives Monetary Authority governor Ahmed Munawar in Mumbai on Thursday.

"The MoU encourages the use of INR and MVR in current account transactions, permissible capital account transactions and any other economic and financial transactions as agreed upon by both countries," the RBI said in a statement.

"This framework would enable exporters and importers to invoice and settle in their respective domestic currencies, which in turn would enable the development of trading in INR-MVR pair in foreign exchange market," it said.

Bilateral trade was valued at US$548.97 million in 2023, with Maldivian exports to India only a paltry US$5.14 million, according to Indian statistics.

-- BERNAMA