In March, civil servants will not receive OT, but will not be fined for late attendance

Finance Ministry has instructed all government offices not to dock the pay of civil servants for late attendance and to exclude overtime pay when preparing the payroll for the month of March.

The Maldivian government has ordered the closure of all government offices for the one-week period from March 19-26 in a move to prevent and contain a COVID-19 outbreak in Maldives.

The Finance Ministry, on Tuesday, dispatched a circular to all government offices providing instructions on the preparation of payrolls for the month of March.

The circular, signed by Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer, refers to the upcoming one-week closure of all government offices, and instructs all offices to prepare the payroll and all other relevant documents and email it to the Finance Ministry by 2 pm this Wednesday.

It also instructs government offices to exclude both OT pay and late fine when preparing the payroll. It says the offices will be provided instructions on the application of the OT pay and late fine at a later date.

The decision to close government offices was taken by the Cabinet on Tuesday afternoon.

Additional decisions taken by the Cabinet over the COVID-19 pandemic includes; cutting the salaries of political appointees by 20 percent, and reducing overall government expenditure by MVR 1 billion.

The two moves are aimed at cutting down government expenditure in an effort to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic.

In an address to the national over the COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih warned the COVID-19 pandemic was having a severe impact on the Maldivian economy – which is heavily dependent on tourism.

The government has begun implementing cost-cutting measures, but President Solih provided assurance his government had no plans to reduce the salaries of civil servants, or to suspend Public Sector Investment Program (PSIP) projects.

The government now expects to receive MVR 6.9 billion less than its projected income for the year.