President: MVR 500M owed by state to private companies being disbursed

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu the government has begun disbursing payments for MVR 500 million owed to private companies in relation to various projects completed for the government.

The President visited GDh. Hoadedhdhoo on Tuesday morning as part of his ongoing tour of Huvadhoo Atoll.

Speaking at a meeting with the residents of the island, President Muizzu emphasized his administration’s commitment to honor both domestic and international financial burdens without increasing the nation’s debt burdens and printing new notes, all while, bringing development to the nation.

In this trajectory, he revealed that Finance Ministry has commenced disbursing payments for MVR 500 million owed to various Maldivian companies in relation to various projects completed for the government.

“These are works that were contracted by the government to various people. [Funds] will be disbursed to small and medium enterprises. This was done during the previous months as well,” he said.

Efforts will also be undertaken to settle pending dues of state-owned companies to private companies before this Ramadan, added the President.

He noted small private companies were contracted by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) such as Fenaka, RDC, MTCC, and WAMCO contracted small private companies for various projects during the previous administration, however, were not paid for it. While this stands, he attributed the difficulties faced by the current administration in settling these debts to the severe management of the SEOs by the former administration.

“Nevertheless, we are working on settling a majority of these within these two months: January and February, before Ramadan,” he stressed.

Notably, some SOEs are run at a loss. SOEs such as Fenaka and RDC that are knee-deep in debt are also targets of huge corruption allegations. SOEs’ failure to settle payments owed to private companies in connection to various projects also remains a prevalent issue. While many such companies face severe losses as a result, some have also reached the verge of bankruptcy.