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 Maldives
Islands
Economy
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In the early 1990s, Maldives was ranked by the UN as one of the
world's twenty-nine least developed countries. The World Bank estimated
Maldives' gross national product (GNP) in 1991 at US$101 million
and its per capita income at US$460. The 1993 estimated real growth
rate was 6 percent. Between 1980 and 1991, GNP was estimated to
increase at an average annual rate of 10.2 percent.
President Gayoom's development philosophy centers on increasing
Maldives' self-sufficiency and improving the standard of living
of residents of the outer islands. In 1994 a considerable gap continued
to exist between the general prosperity of the inhabitants of Male
and the limited resources and comparative isolation of those living
on the outer islands. The Third National Development Plan (1991-93)
reflected these objectives and aimed to improve overall living standards,
to reduce the imbalance in population density and socioeconomic
progress between Male and the atolls, and to achieve greater self-sufficiency
for purposes of future growth.
The fishing and tourist industries are the main
contributors to the gross domestic product (GDP). In 1992 the fishing
industry provided approximately 15 percent of total GDP. Revenues
from tourism were comparable to 80 percent of visible export receipts
in 1992, contributing approximately 17 percent of GDP. The country
had no known mineral resources, and its cropland--small and scattered
over the approximately 200 inhabited islands--was inadequate to
sustain a burgeoning population. Agriculture employed a little more
than 7 percent of the labor force in 1990 in the limited production
of coconuts, cassava, taro, corn, sweet potatoes, and fruit, and
accounted for almost 10 percent of GDP. These basic foodstuffs represented
only 10 percent of domestic food needs with the remainder being
imported.
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The
Maldives economy is based on fishing. One of the chief sources of
the government income is fish sales. Tourism is also important for
the government. About one-fifth of the income comes from tourism.
The people on the island of Maldives raise chili peppers, sweet
potatoes, coconuts and millet. The coconut is used to make husk
fiber, which is used to make yarn string.
The major export on the island of Maldives is fish, but there are
many other exports too. The others are cowrie shells, coir yarn,
fish meal, and copra. Some of their major imports are rice, sugar,
wheat flour, and other manufactured goods. In Maldives, the most
common way of traveling is the sailboat. |
Because
of its clear waters, distinctive corals, and sandy white beaches,
Maldives has many features to attract tourists. As a result, tourism
by 1989 had become the country's major source of foreign exchange,
surpassing fishing. In 1992 tourism income constituted 17 percent
of GDP. Furthermore, tourism is expected to increase as the government
infrastructure improvement projects in the areas of transportation,
communications, sanitation, water supply, and other support facilities
are put into place.
Since the 1970s,
approximately fifty resorts, mostly consisting of thatched bungalows,
have been built on many uninhabited islands on Male Atoll. In 1990
a dozen new resorts were under construction on Maldives. In the
following year, 196,112 tourists visited Maldives, primarily from
Germany, Italy, Britain, and Japan in that order.
Tourist facilities
have been developed by private companies and in 1991 consisted of
sixty-eight "island resorts" with nearly 8,000 hotel beds.
Tourists are not allowed to stay on Male so as not to affect adversely
the Muslim life-style of the indigenous people. Wilingili Island
has also been off limits for tourist accommodation since 1990 to
allow for population overflow from Male to settle there.
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Maldives
Employments |
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In
1992 the fishing industry employed about 22 percent of the labor
force, making it the largest single source of employment in Maldives.
However, a high level of disguised unemployment existed on a seasonal
basis as a result of climatic conditions.
Despite its
importance as a source of government revenues, tourism provides
little meaningful employment opportunities to Maldivians. Tourism
accounts for only about 6 percent of the country's labor force.
Because most Maldivians have no education beyond primary school,
most lack the required knowledge of foreign languages to cater to
foreign tourists. As a result, nonMaldivians filled most of the
best jobs in the tourist industry. Indigenous employment on the
resort islands was also discouraged by the government's efforts
to limit contact between Maldivians and Westerners to prevent adverse
influence on local Islamic mores. Also, the low season for tourists,
the time for rainy monsoons from late April to late October, coincides
with the low season for the fishing industry.
After fishing,
the largest source of employment is in the industrial sector, including
mining, manufacturing, power, and construction. Although this sector
also accounted for nearly 22 percent of the labor force in 1990,
most employment was in traditional small-scale cottage industries.
Women are mainly employed in these activities, such as coir rope
making from coconut husks, cadjan or thatch-weaving from dried coconut
palm leaves, and mat weaving from indigenous reeds. The ancient
task of cowrie-shell collecting for export is another occupation
in which only women participate. In the early 1990s, a small number
of modern industries were operating, mostly fish canning and garment
making. The largest garment factories are Hong Kongowned and occupy
abandoned hangars and other maintenance buildings at the former
British air station on Gan. They employ about 1,500 local women
who are bused in and about 500 young Sri Lankan women who reside
at the site working nightshift.
Other
forms of employment in 1990 were minor. Government administration
accounts for about 7 percent of workers; transportation and communications,
5 percent; trade, 3 percent; and mining of coral, 1 percent.
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