President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has aimed heavy criticism at the financial and economic policies implemented by the government of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
In his inaugural Presidential Address to the Parliament, President Muizzu said that when his government took over back in November, the new administration undertook historic amounts of debt.
President Muizzu said that while the country's economic outlook is bright, there are several challenges to the state's finances. He outlined that back in 2020 when the country faced major economic upheavals brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, that year state budget deficit reached MVR 13.5 billion.
However, he said while the economy bounced back after the pandemic, the state deficit was reduced due to the financial waste and fiscal practices implemented by the then government. President Muizzu in 2023, the country's productivity matched that of 2019 but the state deficit for 2023 remained higher than that of 2020 at MVR 14.6 billion.
The President said that in the last few years, the previous government had printed MVR 8 billion to finance state costs and that this amount had not been printed over the previous 40 years.
He said that as a result, it is now challenging to maintain the value of Maldivian Ruffiyaa and that the prices of goods and inflation have skyrocketed. The President said that one of the first this his government undertook was stopping illegal monetization by bringing a halt to the money printing practices starting 31st of December 2023.
