- The Government is drafting legislation to protect a 20-year National Development Master Plan running to 2040 across successive administrations.
- President Muizzu said a USD 100 million currency swap with Malaysia is progressing, with reserves at USD 1.2 billion in February.
- On Rasmalé, 60-70% of reclamation is done, with land leased to foreign investors without ownership transfer or sovereign guarantees.
The Government is drafting legislation to keep a proposed 20-year National Development Master Plan in place across successive administrations, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has said.
Speaking on Public Service Media’s Nation Chat podcast, the President said the plan would set out the Maldives’ development path to 2040. He argued that legal protection was needed to ensure projects continued beyond a change of government, citing past instances in which incoming administrations had discontinued work begun by their predecessors.
President Muizzu said those changes had delayed progress, reduced the benefits available to the public and caused losses for the country. A long-term plan, he said, would give development efforts a consistent direction. He also linked the plan to the Government’s ambition for the Maldives to become a developed nation by 2040.
The President addressed foreign exchange pressures during the episode, saying work on a proposed USD 100 million currency swap agreement with the Central Bank of Malaysia was progressing rapidly. He said the Maldives’ foreign exchange reserves had reached USD 1.2 billion in February but had since been affected by developments in the Middle East, changes in global oil prices and Sukuk repayments. He expressed confidence that economic conditions would improve substantially over the next six months.
On the Rasmalé project, President Muizzu said approximately 60 to 70 per cent of land reclamation had been completed. He said land would be leased to foreign investors without transferring ownership, and that the Government would provide no sovereign guarantees, tax concessions or import duty exemptions for the project.
He also said the project would not affect land plots already allocated to members of the public.
