Disbursement of MVR 17 million in pending dues for fishermen begin

State fisheries company, Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) has begun the disbursement of MVR 17.3 million in pending dues for fishermen.

In a message to the media on Sunday, MIFCO said the price of fish weighed by the company between August 24^th and September 25^th totaled at MVR 17,350,903 which will be disbursed to fishermen by the end of today with assistance from the government.

On Thursday, the company revealed that they held a meeting with the Fisheries Ministry and Finance Ministry regarding settling the outstanding bills dating back to the start of the month. They affirmed their commitment to settle all pending dues to fishermen by the end of this week.

As per MIFCO's latest statistics, over MVR 1 billion had been deposited to fishermen from November 17^th to July 14^th.

Disbursement of pending dues to fishermen within 48 hours is an electoral pledge of the current administration. Fisheries Minister Ahmed Shiyam has previously said the pledge has not been implemented so far due to economic constraints.

MIFCO has stated that they aim to disburse weekly payments for fishermen by the end of this year.

The former administration, during September’s presidential election, increased the fish purchase rate from MVR 17 to MVR 25. Payment delays continue to persist even after the current administration lowered the rate to MVR 20 in February.

With growing concerns from fishermen, the current administration decided to revise the purchasing rate based on present market rates and export costs, with the prices reviewed on a weekly basis.

Minister Shiyam said the revision will allow the disbursement of payment within two weeks.

Fishermen have previously protested in different parts of the country over the delays in the disbursement of payment.