Dollars and your shop: BML's new USD gateway, the rules at the counter, and what the reserves say

7 November 2026 · ISLEPOS

Since 1 November small businesses that sell abroad can be paid in US dollars through the BML Payment Gateway. What the new service does, what the Foreign Currency Act lets a shop do with dollars, and why dollars are likely to stay tight.

Ask any shop owner in the Maldives what is hardest about buying stock and many will say the same thing: finding the dollars to pay for it. This week brought three things that bear on that — a new way for small businesses to earn dollars, an argument in Parliament about whether dollars are getting harder to find, and fresh figures from the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).

This post sets out what has started, what the law already says about dollars at your counter, and what to do about it.

1. Since 1 November: dollars through the BML Payment Gateway

On 1 November Bank of Maldives opened its Payment Gateway to micro, small and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) that sell to customers overseas, with payments settled to them in US dollars (Edition.mv; Hotelier Maldives). It is run with the Ministry of Economic Development, Transport and Trade and the Business Center Corporation (BCC). President Dr Mohamed Muizzu had announced the date at the Maldives Expo 2026 awards on 24 October (Edition.mv).

As reported, it works like this:

• Who it is for: Maldivian manufacturers and small businesses selling goods or services to customers abroad.
• How to apply: through the BCC portal. After BCC refers the business, BML contacts it for documents, completes the registration and links its account to the gateway.
• What you receive: payments made with international cards are settled in US dollars.
• What you can spend it on: a USD debit card linked to the account can be used for subscriptions and other international payments.

This is a bank service that is already running, not a law or a promise. What has not been published is just as important: neither report gives fees, limits or a list of who qualifies. Ask BML or BCC before you count on it.

Who should apply? A café or shop serving only local customers will get little from it. A business that sells dried fish, handicrafts, cosmetics or clothing to buyers abroad, or takes bookings from overseas, could earn its own dollars and pay foreign suppliers and software bills without queuing at the bank.

2. The rules on dollars at your counter (law, in force)

The Foreign Currency Act.pdf) (Law 32/2024) has applied since 1 January 2025, and its First Amendment (Law 13/2026) since 1 September 2026 (QVL; The Standard). The MMA publishes an unofficial English text with the amendment included. In our reading, these parts matter most to a shop:

• Price and settle in rufiyaa. Section 3 says transactions in the Maldives are offered and settled in rufiyaa unless the Act or another law allows foreign currency.
• Tourists and exports are the exceptions. Section 4 lets a business accept foreign currency for goods and services sold to tourists, and for exports.
• You cannot make a Maldivian pay in dollars. Section 5: a Maldivian cannot be obliged to pay in foreign currency for goods or services bought in the Maldives.
• No selling dollars above the MMA rate. Section 6(d) caps buying and selling foreign currency at the rate or band the MMA sets. For a business, selling above it or advertising a higher rate carries a fine of MVR 100,000 to MVR 5 million (section 17-3).

The MMA's official rate was MVR 15.42 to the dollar in every month from October 2025 to September 2026 (MMA Monthly Statistics, October 2026).

Most shops do not have to convert dollars at the bank. That duty (section 10) falls on resorts, which convert 40% of monthly foreign-currency sales; on guesthouses, tourist hotels and safari boats, which convert USD 25 per tourist or 20%; and on other businesses only if they earned at least USD 25 million in foreign currency the year before. For those, a 100% Maldivian-owned business converts 7%. Conversions are due before the 28th of the next month.

3. Why dollars are likely to stay tight

The MMA's figures, with data up to 29 October, show official reserve assets of USD 547.8 million at the end of September 2026, down from USD 984.6 million at the end of 2025 and a peak of USD 1,331.8 million in March (MMA Monthly Statistics, October 2026). The same table puts real growth for 2026 at 0.6%, against 6.3% in 2025 — a projection by the MMA and the Finance Ministry (Maaldif).

In Parliament on 4 November, answering a no-confidence motion filed by 13 opposition MPs, Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed said dollar supply is for the MMA to manage, and that the government has released USD 718.53 million at the official rate so far in 2026, after USD 733.82 million in 2025. He said the current government has issued 80% more dollars than the last one and rejected claims that the shortage has got worse (Edition.mv). The opposition says otherwise; the minister's figures and the reserve figures above are the ones that have been published.

For a shop, it means one thing: plan as if bank dollars at MVR 15.42 will stay hard to get, and know what your stock really costs at the rate you actually pay.

What to do this week

• Price everything in rufiyaa, with a dollar price only for tourists if you want one.
• Work out landed cost at the rate you really pay for dollars — not MVR 15.42 if you bought them elsewhere — and add freight and duty before you set a shelf price.
• If you sell abroad, apply for the BML gateway through the BCC portal, and ask BML for its fees and limits in writing.
• Never advertise or sell dollars above the MMA rate, even a few to a regular customer.
• Guesthouses: check you are converting your share by the 28th of each month.

ISLEPOS keeps prices and books in rufiyaa while letting you buy in dollars: save a USD rate, raise purchase orders in the supplier's currency, add freight and duty as landed costs so each item's cost is what it really cost you, and connect the BML gateway to take card payments in your webshop.

Sources

1. Foreign Currency Act, Law No. 32/2024 — unofficial English translation, consolidated with the First Amendment — Maldives Monetary Authority, 1 September 2026
2. Monthly Statistics, October 2026 — Maldives Monetary Authority, 29 October 2026
3. BML to open USD Payment Gateway access for SMEs — Edition.mv, 1 November 2026
4. BML opens payment gateway applications for MSMEs to receive overseas payments — Hotelier Maldives, 1 November 2026
5. SMEs can accept foreign USD payment from November: President — Edition.mv, 25 October 2026
6. Government issued over 80 percent more USD than previous administration: Saeed — Edition.mv, 4 November 2026
7. MMA: Construction strength and tourism resilience support Maldives economy as 2026 growth outlook reaches 0.6% — Maaldif, 6 November 2026
8. Maldives strengthens foreign currency regulations with First Amendment to the Foreign Currency Act — QVL, 2 September 2026
9. New foreign currency rules take effect September 1 with tougher penalties for black market trading — The Standard, 31 August 2026