Ex-Vp Jameel: Creating more political jobs than income lead to path of bankruptcy

Lawyer to the former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and former Vice President Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed said that creating political jobs that did not match with the state income was one of the biggest reasons Maldives was on the path to bankruptcy.

Speaking to Sun, Dr Jameel said that Maldives was not a productive country, and on top of that, useless expenditure by the government has increased.

Moreover, he branded political positions as a “back door” used by the government to gain followers of the party.

“This trick used to buy people off is why the nation’s economy is being crushed. The people are also aware of this. It is something very obvious. Experts have been saying Maldives is on the path to bankruptcy. Political posts are a game played by the government.

Additionally, he said that the government takes citizens for granted and has questioned the intelligence of Maldivians as well. He went on to say that people were smarter than that now.  

“Every member of the party is being given a post. [They] are doing whatever they please with state companies also. Even if [they] do not accept, increasing positions in-state companies and offices lead to increasing debt by a greater margin. The government does not care about this at all.”

He also expressed the same sentiments via Twitter, where he said that the government’s debt climbed to MVR 37 billion due to the useless political positions created by the government.

Statistics released by the Finance Ministry show the state reserve’s balance was USD 829 million in April. The balance was USD 604 million in November 2019, before the pandemic. The figure had risen to USD 1.02 billion in September 2021. 

Speaking about the country’s finances Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer said that with the influx of USD income, Maldives’ official reserve assets will be back to the pre-pandemic level by the end of the year. 

He further branded the talk Maldives was at risk of exhausting its reserves and defaulting on its loans to be false, and also said that Maldives had no challenges in servicing its short-term debt.