Addressing the Socio-Economic Impact of COVID-19 on the Maldives

While the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be global, Maldives will suffer particular and unique impacts due to the high exposure of its economy to external shocks. Both the World Bank and Asian Development Bank assess Maldives as being one of the worst hit in the world from the pandemic.

Maldives will face challenges competing with countries experiencing high numbers of COVID-19 related fatalities in accessing international financial support. The Government has actively pursued both grant and loan support with international and regional banks. There is a risk that the Maldives will need to divert critical resources from the social sector in particular, in order to ensure the provision of immediate and essential services. This paper has been developed to offer proposals to policy-makers in order to respond to the health crisis without further impacting the socio-economic sectors, which are the foundation of a successful, and more sustainable recovery. This recovery cannot be a return to business as usual. The goal is to build back better, in order to continue the trajectory towards the 2030 Agenda and make tangible progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The pandemic will expose existing inequalities and critical needs of particular vulnerable groups, including the significant migrant population working in the Maldives. In order to effectively respond to these needs, structural and systemic weaknesses which enable underlying inequalities to persist will need to be addressed. Without this, the country will continue to be exposed to both external shocks, as well as internal weaknesses which negatively impact Maldives’ ability to experience sustained and inclusive development.