Mr. Qasim Ibrahim explained the economic situation of Maldives
The Minister of Finance of the Maldives, Mr. Qasim Ibrahim explained the economic situation of Maldives due to tsunami disaster in the meeting of Commonwealth Finance Ministers. Commonwealth Finance Ministers went into their first plenary session at the Barbados Hilton on yesterday morning to look at several issues affecting the 53 states stretched across the globe.
One of the major issues on the agenda of the meeting was about the high prices of oil and the impact on developing economies. International oil prices were a major burden for Maldives government, whose fuel bill was estimated to increase by $50 million this year.
Mr. Qasim Ibrahim says the Maldives suffered over 470 million U.S dollars in infrastructural damage, and over 100 lives in the disaster. He believes that Maldives will at least take three years to fully recover from the disaster.
The Maldives economy is over 60 percent dependent on tourism and the economy is set to shrink in this year for the first time since its records began, because tourist arrivals have more than halved due to December's tsunami.