-
To improve
the living standards of the people
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To balance
the population density and the
economic and social progress between
Male' and the atolls
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To attain
greater self-reliance for future
growth
Among the
strategies for improvement of living
standards are better health services,
higher education levels and higher
national and per capita income. The
government is aiming at attaining
greater economic independence by
diversifying the productive base of the
country and designing further
cost-effective methods for building up
the strength and volume of indigenous
human and natural resources. The
developmental plan outlines the
strategies to attain these objectives in
the form of rationalizing and
diversifying the country's export
products and markets and the
strengthening of these and of financial
resources by mobilizing internally the
savings required for accelerated
economic and social progress.
The Plan further sets out certain
priorities for development such as
increasing the GDP and foreign exchange
earnings, reducing infant, child and
maternal mortality, achieving uniformity
of integrated atoll development and
balance the economic and social progress
between Male' and the Atolls. The plan
also aims to relieve the population
pressures in Male' and to protect the
environment.
The Maldives has always maintained
liberal and pragmatic economic policies
and encouraged growth in sectors such as
fisheries and tourism, offering
comparative advantages to the country.
Strategies are worked out to spread the
benefits of such growth to the outer
atolls by providing an essential social
infrastructure. The Government's fiscal
and monetary policy, while ensuring
attractive investment opportunities for
domestic and foreign investors, focuses
on a phased program of domestic resource
mobilization. The national currency, the
Rufiyaa, is not pegged to a
trade-weighted basket of currencies.
Thus foreign currency rates fluctuate to
market demand. Such flexible and
realistic policies have contributed to
the successful growth of the economy in
the past and can be expected to continue
to do so.
