Regarding the pledge of introducing a Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) bank, President Solih has stated that prior to opening the SME Bank they have decided to open a Financial Institute. Thus as part of this he would be opening a separate company under the name of SME Financial and Development.
While the financial institute is planned to be opened next month, the president also highlighted the SME Bank would have 15% share in the 3 cities of Maldives.
Small and Medium businesses are not only the corner shops you see around Male’, but it includes various businesses from all sectors and industries of Maldives.
Components of SME
- Micro Enterprises – not more than 5 employees, an
annual income of MVR 500,000 - Small Enterprises – not more than 30 employees, an annual income of MVR 1,000,000
- Medium Enterprises – not more than 100 employees, an annual income of MVR 20 million
Industry Professionals Opinion
Previous Finance Minister, Mr. Ahmed Inaz said that SME laws were introduced to fulfil plenty of purposes. Thus as part of this, the previous administration allocated MVR 50 million from the budget annually for SME. This was to give out necessary loans and to resolve problems arising in SME.
Finance Ministry’s Chief Financial Budget Executive Mr. Ahmed Saruvash Adam said that loan financing is one of the components of SME and that starting business and innovative work requires equity financing.
