Saeed: 40 percent of subsidy goes to foreigners

Economic Minister, Mohamed Saeed has said that 40 percent of the subsidies on staple goods that were being provided by the government have been going to foreigners.

Talking on TVM’s “Raajje Miadhu” (Maldives Today) program tonight, Minister Saeed said that a large portion of subsidies were not being spent on those it deserves.

The Minister said that according to the latest census data, there are 340,000 Maldivians along with 124,000 expatriates in the country and over a million tourists visit the Maldives.

And so 17 percent of the subsidies are spent on tourist and 24 percent is spent of expatriates according to the Economic Minister.

The Minister said that although financial institutes advise not make the Maldives a welfare state, they advise to give subsidies to those who deserve it.

Economic Minister Saeed said that the MDP government also discussed the issue of the rich taking subsidies but what they did was reduce the salaries of civil servants.

With the subsidy removed, the controlled price of Rice went up from MVR 3.95 to MVR 7.96 per kilogram. And the price of a kilogram of Sugar went up from MVR 4.50 to MVR 8 while the price of Flour was raised from MVR 3.50 to MVR 5.96 per kilogram.

Subsidy would be given to those in poverty alone through the National Social Protection Agency (NSPA) with MVR 40 per head.