Economic Minister Fayyaz Ismail says the state would issue an allowance of MVR 5000 to those who are made jobless amid the Covid-19 crisis.

Speaking at parliament’s committee on national security and foreign relations, the Minister said the allowances would be issued for three months. He clarified that this would include April, May and June of this year.

Authorities have asked those who faced uncertainty regarding their employments to lodge complaints via the Job Center platform enacted under the Economic Ministry.

The Minister said more than 1300 individuals lodged their complaints and these include people who were made jobless, placed under forced no pay leaves and people suffered pay cuts.

Fayyaz said the ministry was using e-pass for individuals to lodge complaints but since many reported to having difficulties in using e-passes the Ministry went on without their use. He said then the process fell victim to online scams and the ministry had re-installed the e-pass system.

Maldivian economy has taken a heavy hit during the current pandemic with the tourist sector brought to a grinding halt. Many employees are facing difficult decisions with not much turnover expected for the current financial year. This have led to some employees taking extreme cost cutting measures including termination of employees, enforcing forced no-pay leaves and also implementing massive pay cuts.