President Dr Mohamed Muizzu says the government is working to resolve the difficulties consumers face when shopping online, including on Temu.
A participant raised the issue during the ninth episode of Rayyithunge Adu on 8 October, a programme in which members of the public put concerns directly to the President. The participant said many people currently cannot buy from Temu and urged a swift solution. The President said the government was working on it and expressed confidence that a permanent solution could be found. "We are working on this day and night," he said.
The limits in place
The Bank of Maldives (BML) first introduced daily transaction limits for purchases from sites such as Temu last May, saying demand for US dollars exceeded supply. In September it introduced a monthly cap of USD 16 million on e-commerce transactions. Platforms such as Temu fall into a category with a monthly allocation of USD 3 million, and daily limits for each category reset at 7am.
BML has advised customers whose category or merchant has reached its limit to try again the next day or use a dedicated US dollar card, where they have one.
Scale of demand
On Friday, BML said it supplied USD 722 million in foreign currency to customers in the first nine months of the year, close to the USD 733 million it supplied in all of last year. Of USD 336 million spent through cards, 62 percent, or USD 208 million, went on e-commerce.
The bank said it faces rising global costs of acquiring US dollars and fast-growing domestic demand, which it is managing through its balance-sheet policies. It also said inflows from remittances and card settlements rose 15 percent year on year to USD 2.96 billion, though September inflows were 6 percent lower than a year earlier.
The President did not say what changes the government is considering or when any would take effect.
Sources: One Online – Government working to resolve online shopping issues: President; Sun – 'Working day and night' to address online transaction challenges; Sun – BML executes USD 2.86B foreign payments in nine months
