foreign direct investment is one avenue through which we can continuously achieve development without incurring additional debt. fdi under public - private initiatives should be explored more, as it could present a number of advantages for countries like the maldives. our level of indebtedness, and in particular, the level of public sector debt is something to always be mindful of. we have to evaluate our capacity to repay our obligations before incurring new debt in order to avoid walking into a debt trap. currently, the economy is performing exceptionally well, and it is during these times that we must take measures to get our financial affairs in order. we have to learn from the experience of other countries and think about what led them to fall into debt traps, and also identify what they did to escape those traps. we are in a position to tackle the issues the economy has been facing for years, and this opportunity should not be missed. in conclusion, i would like to once again thank the mpao for giving me the opportunity to speak here today, and applaud their efforts to make such excellent arrangements for the forum. assalaamu alaikum. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

the current account deficit widened significantly from 2016 due to the hike in imports related to the infrastructure projects that are currently ongoing. the deficit stood at 21 % of gdp in 2017, and is expected to remain almost at the same level at 20 % in 2018. however, due to the strong increase in receipts from the tourism sector and due to the large infrastructure projects gradually wind up, the current account deficit is expected to narrow in the medium term. net outflows from foreign exchange reserves persist, but reserve levels remain stable due to short term reserve management activities and large inflows from public debt issuances. as such, gross international reserves are expected to be at us $ 728 million at the end of 2018. on account of the strong performance by the tourism and construction sectors, gdp is expected to grow at around 6 % during the year. looking at developments in the global economy, economic activity is picking up in both the advanced and emerging economies. emerging asia is expected to maintain its high growth rate at current levels in 2018. this is mainly because the impact of an acceleration in the indian economy is expected to be offset by a slight slowdown in the growth in the chinese economy in 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches 2018. the slowdown in the chinese economy, which is the largest tourism source market for us, could pose risks for us in the form of lower tourist arrivals and spending. global consumer prices are expected to pick up further in 2018, which is somewhat in contrast to the conditions here in the maldivian economy. this is because current developments in inflation in our domestic economy is being driven primarily by policy related factors. this is a time where global attention on international trade has increased, with talks of a trade war between the us and china at the forefront. being a highly import dependent country, we need to be aware and keep on top of these developments. any such event can have major implications for our competitiveness and terms of trade positions, especially with the sizable share china accounts as an inbound tourism market and import source market. from here on, i intend to talk about 3 issues that i believe are of key importance to us at this point in time. the first of these issues is fund management practices and the need to streamline the practices currently being followed. despite the small size of the maldivian economy, we currently have 3 professionally managed funds being administered. two are being managed by the maldives monetary authority, one being the official foreign exchange reserves which in a