President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has said that work will soon begin in atolls with the lowest levels of tourism, with the aim of increasing bed capacity and creating more employment opportunities for local communities. He made the remarks at the ‘Rayyithunnaa Eku Kuriah – Hafthaa 104’ function held at the Youth Centre to mark the administration’s second anniversary, where he spoke alongside First Lady Sajidha Mohamed.

The President noted that 6,223 tourism beds have been registered so far as part of nationwide efforts to expand the sector. He also highlighted that development work has begun in HDh. Naagoashi to introduce tourism to atolls that currently have limited industry activity.

Speaking about Addu City, the President said that the owners of Shangri-La have expressed their intention to reopen the resort before the end of this year. He added that the agreement for the Asseyri Tourism project has been finalised and that the investor for the Hankede project is expected to settle the lease acquisition cost and sign the agreement soon. According to the President, government incentives to broaden tourism across the country have led to multiple bids from interested parties, several of which are in progress.

In his remarks on the fisheries sector, the President said that work has focused on addressing longstanding issues faced by fishermen. He stated that a number of ice plants have been repaired, new facilities have opened on four islands, and construction is underway on six further sites. He also noted that Refrigerated Sea Water systems have been installed on many vessels through loan schemes, with the Bank of Maldives making additional financing options available.

Cold storage capacity, which was at 9,500 tonnes at the beginning of the current term, is projected to reach 24,500 tonnes by the end of the five-year period, he said. The President also referenced ongoing development at GA. Kooddoo and stated that the administration has cleared over MVR 200 million in outstanding payments to fishermen inherited from the previous government. Since December 2024, he said, payments have been issued regularly. He added that the State Trading Organisation has committed to establishing fuel skids by the end of March 2026 on all islands previously announced.

The event was attended by Vice President Uz Hussain Mohamed Latheef, Speaker of Parliament Abdul Raheem Abdulla, Members of Parliament, Cabinet Ministers, state dignitaries and senior government officials.

The Minister of Finance and Planning, Moosa Zameer, has assured Parliament that the government will not require a supplementary budget this year, describing current expenditure as manageable within the approved 2025 framework. His comments came during Tuesday’s sitting of the ongoing 2026 budget debate, where he expressed confidence in the administration’s fiscal management.

Minister Zameer said the government does not anticipate exceeding its allocations for the year, noting that this marks a departure from recent administrations that frequently returned to Parliament seeking additional funds. He also highlighted that next year is expected to be the most demanding debt repayment year in Maldives’ history, but maintained that the 2026 budget has been drafted with these repayment pressures in mind.

Economists at the Ministry of Finance and the Maldives Monetary Authority believe that the proposed budget can remain sustainable, provided current revenue measures perform as expected. According to the Minister, the government is exploring ways to increase revenue without raising taxes, including the development of an international financial centre and the use of emerging technologies such as blockchain and tokenisation to attract new forms of investment. He also pointed to efforts to improve the profitability of domestic airports.

While the government has emphasised fiscal discipline and spending control, this year’s capital expenditure tells a more restrained story. Large portions of the 2025 capital budget remain underutilised, with many planned development projects progressing slowly or yet to begin physical work. Recent fiscal updates show that project mobilisation has not matched the scale of funds allocated at the start of the year. This has resulted in a widening gap between approved capital spending and actual implementation, raising concerns about whether the government’s development commitments will be delivered within the expected timelines.

The underuse of capital funds also raises questions about the government’s ability to balance fiscal restraint with the need to accelerate infrastructure projects that have been repeatedly described as essential for economic growth.

Minister Zameer, however, maintained that the administration is committed to staying within its spending limits and pledged that next year’s budget would follow the same approach. He reiterated criticisms of the previous government’s handling of debt, noting the absence of a reliable repayment structure, and said that the current administration intends to pursue a more sustainable model going forward.

The Ministry of Construction, Housing and Infrastructure yesterday publicised policies for the “Housing for All” scheme, under which land and flats will be allocated from Malé and Rasmalé.

The Ministry released two policies: the Residential Land for Malé Residents Policy, detailing the distribution of land plots, and the Flat Allocation Policy for Malé Residents, outlining the allocation of flats. The land policy provides 15,000 plots for Malé residents aged 18 and above, either within the Greater Malé Area or in Rasmalé, which is still in early reclamation stages.

The applications for both these schemes will be opened on January 4, 2026, until March 3, 2026.

The scheme targets four groups:

• Individuals able to purchase housing or land through business policies;
• Middle-class families seeking affordable housing;
• Those who cannot buy property but qualify for a rent-to-own model;
• Individuals who cannot afford to buy or rent, identified through a government assessment.

Land applicants fall into two categories. Category 1 covers “Malé natives” who have lived in the city for at least five years and do not own land exceeding 400 square feet; smaller holdings must be relinquished through a government process. Category 2 includes long-term Malé residents from other islands who have lived in the city for 15 years or more and meet the same ownership conditions. Public criticism has highlighted that the policy allocates land differently between these categories.

Under Chapter Two of the Residential Land Policy, Malé natives may receive land in Rasmalé or across the Greater Malé Area — including Malé, Vilimalé, Hulhumalé Phases 1–3, Gulhifalhu, Thilafushi, and Giraavaru Falhu — whereas long-term Malé residents are limited to plots in Rasmalé.

Malé natives are defined as individuals registered to an address in Malé from birth, listed in the Malé registry without housing, or from other islands who later registered to an address in Malé. In a separate notice, the Ministry outlined the number of land plots to be allocated according to applicant category. Those registered in Malé from birth will receive 7,000 land plots, while those who later registered a Malé address will receive 2,000 plots. Applicants listed in the Malé registry without housing are allocated 1,000 plots, and long-term Malé residents will receive 3,000 plots. Additionally, people who are unable to inherit land due to the death of a parent will be allocated 500 land plots, while those who own small plots on narrow roads, face difficulties in developing them, and agree to transfer their land to the government will be allocated 1,500 land plots.

Eligibility requires relinquishing any inherited land or housing and excludes anyone who sold government-allocated land or housing in the past five years or benefited from previous schemes such as Veshifahi Malé or Binveriyaa.

Flats will be distributed under two models: affordable home ownership and rent-to-own. The affordable model offers subsidised flats to first-time homebuyers meeting financial institution requirements. The rent-to-own model is available for applicants earning less than MVR 60,000 per month, who may also choose the affordable ownership option if eligible.

Although the Flat Allocation Policy for Malé Residents does not specify allocation areas, a separate notice sets out the distribution of flats. Those registered in Malé from birth will receive 2,500 flats, while those who later registered a Malé address will receive 500 flats. Applicants listed in the Malé registry without housing are allocated 1,000 flats, and long-term Malé residents will receive 1,500 flats. An additional 1,700 flats are allocated to specific groups, including people with disabilities, single parents with children under 18, Maldives Police Service employees, and military personnel, with a further 300 flats designated for employees from various state institutions. Applicants whose spouses received government housing, or who own flats or sold government land within the past five years, are ineligible.

While the scheme meets President Dr Mohamed Muizzu’s pledge to provide housing for both Malé natives and residents, it falls short of ensuring equal access across all groups, one of his key pledges. Under the previous administration’s Binveriyaa scheme, long-term Malé residents could apply for Greater Malé plots in a second round, which the change in administration prevented

President Mohamed Muizzu’s Republic Day remarks revealed more than a simple observation about misconduct in the public sector. They revealed a worldview. Speaking at the Youth Centre, he argued that corruption is “mostly” carried out by lower and middle level employees, those who have the chance to participate in it. Top officials, he conceded, commit such acts too, but the emphasis was clear.

To understand why these comments matter, it helps to consider how corruption actually works. Around the world, the patterns are familiar. In South Korea, major corruption scandals have involved presidents, conglomerate chairmen, and senior political aides making decisions that shape entire economies. In Brazil, the sprawling Lava Jato investigation exposed a network of political executives and corporate leaders who diverted public funds on a massive scale. In Indonesia, the Corruption Eradication Commission has repeatedly focused on governors, ministers, and members of parliament because these officials control budgets, procurement, and policy decisions worth millions.

In each of these countries, investigations into petty corruption at the lower levels exist. But the most damaging forms of corruption are almost always driven by access to power, not proximity to paperwork.

This is why the President’s framing is troubling. Lower and middle level employees do not design megaprojects, negotiate foreign financing, authorise land allocations, award multi million dollar contracts or set national priorities. They are functionaries within systems built above them. When corruption occurs on a meaningful scale, it requires authority. It requires influence. It requires decisions that only the upper tiers of the state can make.

The Maldives is no exception. The largest scandals in the country’s history have involved individuals at the helm of public institutions, not clerks at the bottom of them. The structures that enable corruption are shaped by those with the most reach, not those who simply follow orders. To suggest otherwise turns the logic of accountability upside down.

There is another risk in the President’s approach. When leaders publicly shift blame downwards, they create a culture where the least powerful are treated as the source of the problem, while those with the most responsibility are allowed to remain in the background. It builds an environment where institutional weaknesses go unaddressed because the analysis begins in the wrong place. The public is left with the impression that the system is fundamentally sound and that only its lowest participants are failing it.

What the Maldives needs is the opposite. A serious national conversation about corruption requires clear recognition that systems reflect the behaviour of their leaders. Countries that have made progress, from Georgia’s sweeping public sector reforms to Singapore’s disciplined approach to governance, did so by starting at the top. Leadership set the tone, enforced standards, and allowed transparency to operate without fear or favour.

To single out the lower and middle ranks is to avoid confronting the more difficult truth. Corruption is not an issue of who has the smallest salary or the least power. It is an issue of who controls decisions, who benefits from them, and who is protected from scrutiny. Real change begins at the highest levels, not the lowest.

About MVR 1 billion owed to the state remains unrecovered because it is tied up in lengthy court proceedings, Commissioner General of Taxation Hassan Zareer told parliament’s budget review committee. He said it can take up to a decade for a single case to move from the Tax Appeal Tribunal to the Supreme Court, leaving substantial amounts inaccessible for years.

According to Zareer, the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority is currently managing around 200 tax cases with only five lawyers. He noted that MIRA previously had the option of bringing in external experts to represent the authority in court, but current regulations no longer permit that. This, he said, has made it difficult to recruit and retain skilled legal professionals.

“If you work for MIRA, you can’t do any other legal work,” he said, adding that tribunal rules require a master’s degree in taxation for anyone wishing to handle tax cases abroad, including in the EU.

Zareer also raised concerns about the qualifications of those adjudicating tax disputes. In other jurisdictions, he said, judges hearing tax cases are required to have specialised training, while no similar requirement exists in the Maldives. This lack of expertise affects MIRA’s ability to pursue cases effectively, he said, noting that tax is a distinct legal field that demands technical understanding.

MIRA currently collects around 85 percent of total state revenue. As of September last year, the authority recorded MVR 13 billion in outstanding dues, with the largest share linked to unpaid resort rent amounting to about MVR 5 billion. Zareer said prolonged delays in the judicial process continue to hinder the state’s ability to recover these funds.

The Maldives Monetary Authority has urged the government to implement upcoming salary increases in phases, warning that raising wages across all sectors at once could place added strain on the budget and the foreign exchange market.

Speaking before the Parliament’s Budget Committee, Governor Ahmed Munnawar said the most significant challenge for next year will be managing the cost of the pay harmonisation initiative. He noted that the government is preparing for a sizeable rise in the wage bill, with recurrent expenditure expected to increase by roughly MVR 3 billion if salaries are adjusted simultaneously.

Munnawar said a staggered approach would reduce pressure on state finances and help maintain stability in the foreign exchange market. He explained that access to international loans has been difficult in recent years, and reserves have not reached the level MMA considers adequate to manage fluctuations. With the country relying on foreign currency received through the Foreign Exchange Act, taxes and state revenue, he cautioned that sudden increases in spending could disrupt the balance next year.

MMA Research Executive Mariyam Rashfa told the committee that raising salaries at the same time would create inflationary pressure and negatively affect the MVR exchange rate. She reiterated that the risks would be more manageable if adjustments were spread out over time.

The government has allocated MVR 1.7 billion in the 2026 budget for salary revisions, covering civil servants and employees of independent institutions. State employees are expected to reach 54,000 next year, an increase of 7,000 compared with this year, with salaries projected to account for 30 percent of the total budget.

MMA also recommended reforms to subsidies, Aasandha and medical welfare to reduce recurrent expenditure, noting that 99 percent of state revenue is currently spent on recurrent costs. Without efficiency gains in state-owned companies, the central bank warned that subsidy bills may continue to grow, adding further pressure on the budget.

The Finance Ministry has announced measures to support the transition, including capping overtime payments at 10 percent of base salary and allowing more flexible working arrangements where appropriate. President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has said the Pay Commission will continue engaging with government offices to address concerns related to the ongoing pay harmonisation process.

The Maldives held its first national tax forum on Saturday, bringing together experts and policymakers to discuss how the country can build a stronger and more efficient tax system.

Organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Maldives and the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority, the Maldives Tax Forum 2025 focused on the theme “Shaping a Smarter Tax Future.” The event convened tax professionals, lawyers and accountants to examine challenges in tax administration, ranging from payment difficulties to international compliance requirements.

A recurring concern was the complexity foreign nationals face when navigating the Maldivian tax system. Participants noted that clearer guidance and more streamlined procedures would support better compliance and reduce obstacles for those working or investing in the Maldives.

Speakers also highlighted MIRA’s ongoing move towards greater digitalisation. Efforts to automate tax administration were presented as a pathway to improving efficiency, strengthening transparency and reducing administrative gaps.

Foreign Minister Dr Abdulla Khaleel, addressing the forum, said the reliability of a country’s tax system has strategic value on the international stage. “Investors, development banks and governments look at how a country generates and maintains its own revenue, and a modern reliable tax system is the strongest calling card a country can carry in any international transaction.”

The forum served as a platform for open dialogue among regulators, professionals and policymakers, marking an important step in shaping a more responsive and inclusive tax environment in the Maldives.

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has said that the government has gathered biometric data from more than 191,700 foreigners residing in the Maldives, outlining the latest update in the administration’s efforts to address the long-standing issue of undocumented migrants.

Speaking at the ruling People’s National Congress rally held on Friday night, the President said resolving the matter remains a core priority and acknowledged that previous administrations had also struggled to find a lasting solution. He stated that when the current government took office, there were no clear statistics on the actual number of foreign workers living in the country, but that ongoing biometric registration efforts have now produced updated figures.

According to the President, authorities have taken ten fingerprints from 191,723 foreigners, enabling the government to identify where individuals live and maintain a more organised database. He added that the deadline for submitting biometric details expires today and noted that those who fail to register will face deportation if found in operations set to begin immediately afterwards.

The President also referenced the number of deportations carried out over the past two years, stating that 9,021 foreigners have been removed from the country. He said this includes undocumented migrants, individuals who had committed offences and those who opted not to undergo regularisation. He compared this with the previous administration’s figures, saying deportations under the current government are higher.

The ongoing biometric exercise is part of wider efforts announced by the government to improve monitoring, data management and enforcement concerning foreign workers and undocumented migrants.