Government of Maldives has decided to take all the necessary measures to fight the current financial crisis. Every country is facing financial crisis and taking steps to overcome this situation. The cabinet took the decision following recommendations by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and recommendations by two cabinet committees, at a cabinet meeting held at the President’s Office.
Some measures to be implemented soon
- 20% reduction in salaries and allowances of political appointees ranked deputy minister and above
- 10 % from the salaries and allowances from political posts below deputy minister level
- 5-10% reduction in salary and allowances of civil servants
- Reducing the number of Government employees
- Reduce travels, rented buildings, etc
Its very clear that there will be some layoffs in the Government sector soon for both expatriates and locals. Layoffs are nothing new these days as we see this all around the world.
Maldives depends on imports for almost all the daily needs, so its very important that every person living in Maldives should contribute in saving the foreign reserves. There is an acute of of US Dollars in Maldives and its effecting the imports. The Government needs to encourage exporters and the Tourism Industry. Major foreign revenue source for Maldives is from the exports in the fishing industry and the tourism industry. In fact the tourism industry was doing well even when other countries were going down. But now the statistics show that the tourism in Maldives has come down comparing with previous year.
Expatriates who are working in Maldives are also facing problem sending money home due to this financial crisis. Most of the companies and Government pay their employees in local currencies. Banks are demanding to pay in US dollars for sending money home. Recently Bank of Maldives has set a limit in withdrawing money from ATM’s and Visa card usage outside the country to US$300.
Hopefully Maldives will come out of this serious problem soon.
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