SOEs rack up MVR 37 billion in debt; MACL alone owes MVR 13 billion

(From R-L) Finance Minister Moosa Zameer, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, and MACL's Managing Director Ibrahim Shareef Mohamed. (Photo/President's Office)

State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) have racked up over MVR 37 billion in debt, with the Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) alone owing lenders nearly MVR 13 billion.

According to the Q1 review released by the Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB), SOEs accumulated total MVR 37.08 billion by the end of the year’s first quarter. This includes MVR 33.11 billion by self-sufficient SOEs and MVR 3.97 billion by budget-supported ones.

Among the self-sufficient SOEs, MACL racked up the highest debt, with MVR 12.98 billion by the end of Q1 2025. This marks an increase of 11 percent compared to the MVR 11.71 it owed at the end of Q1 2024.

Meanwhile, the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) still has a staggering debt of MVR 9.3 billion – albeit down by 5 percent from MVR 9.75 billion in Q1 2024.

The debt of budget-supported SOEs shows an increase of 24 percent – from MVR 3.20 billion in Q1 2024 to MVR 3.97 billion in Q1 2025.

The biggest debt was accumulated by the Fahi Dhiriulhun Corporation (FDC), with MVR 2.72 billion – coming up a sharp 49 percent from the MVR 11.83 billion in Q1 2024.

The total debt of the SOEs has risen by 7 percent – from MVR 34.73 billion in Q1 2024 to MVR 37.08 billion in Q1 2025.

While the debt increased and total revenue fell by 9 percent, the net profit of SOEs rose by 10 percent.

There has been growing public concern regarding SOEs, primarily regarding the high state spending on loss-makers, the prevalence of corruption, and the political favoritism, nepotism and cronyism in the hiring process.

The latest weekly fiscal report released by the Finance Ministry shows the state has spent MVR 1.9 billion on SOEs. This marks an excess of MVR 1.6 billion from the 2025 budget allocation of MVR 378.3 million.

But despite the high burden on the state, the number of employees of the SOE sector has increased to more than 37,900 employees. This far exceeds even the total number of employees in the civil service, which is 30,436.