Which HOUSE are you from?

“….kon ge eh tho? Alhugadu maaragalhakah nudhannamey”, asked my client - a businessman from an aristocratic Male’ family in his mid 40s. I instinctively knew what he was referring to – he was obviously not interested in my address of course – rather he wanted to know which island I was from. Am I going to say I’m from the House of Windsor, the House of Tsar or the House of Dhiyamighili?, I thought for a moment. On second thought I didn’t want to lose my client so I told him both my parents came from small impoverished islands in the north and I grew up as a street kid on the streets of Male.

I wonder what it would be like if Orchidmaage, Kaamineege, Love Nest and Broken Heart were all given street numbers. Would a lot of people lose their identity? M. Alivaage is a small part of the identity of Minister Ilyas Ibrahim, and Male Municipality Dhaftharu no. 11023 could be the only identity of another Ilyas Ibrahim who migrated to Male’ from G.Dh Fiyori some 23 years ago in search of a better life. Back then islanders were required to get a Visa to stay in Male and my friend Ilyas would have certainly had a tough time getting through the paperwork of kuda sitee office. Ilyas, must have gone into all that trouble to get himself identified by a mysterious Male Municipality Dhaftharu number some 23 years later!

Getting a Loan from Bank of Maldives?

The Government of Maldives brags a lot about how the cost of funds has come down in this country. Has it really come down? Im note sure. Go to Bank of Maldives to get a loan. They will say that your interest rate would be between 10-11 percent. If you are not among the big fishes they will take at least two or even sometime three times the value of your proposed loan as collateral (they will only take physical collateral such as houses and boats). Then they ask you to insure your property i.e; collateral. They will also ask you to pay an arrangement fee of one percent to the bank. Then they will ask the loan agreement to be registered with the bank. To do this you need to buy revenue stamp (thats another 0.5 percent of the loan). Now do your math and calculate your cost of funds!

I forgot to mention - deposit rates used to be as high as 4-6 percent until recently. Now they have brought it down to 1.5 - 2 percent.