Talk of Maldives bankruptcy baseless: Ameer

Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer has said on Monday that the talk about Maldives heading for bankruptcy is baseless and has a political motive to tarnish the image of the government among the people.

During a debate on the budget presented in the Parliament on Monday, Speaker of the People's Majlis Mohamed Nasheed said that the Maldives is heading towards bankruptcy and that he is ashamed to sit in the Chair in such a situation. Nasheed also sent a letter comprising 19 points to the budget committee on Sunday night expressing concern over the budget.

Responding to this, Finance Minister Ameer tweeted that the country's bankruptcy is not a new rumour spread by a group of people, but is meant to serve political purposes. Ameer said the Covid-19 situation was a more difficult time than today. However, he pointed out that this country is among the fastest economies to be recovering from the situation.

According to the minister, these things are visible and he condemned the attempts of those in responsible positions to distort facts. Ameer described the future of the country's economy as bright. 

"At this juncture, it is unfortunate that officials in responsible positions would create a negative image of the economy and create fear within the public for political purposes. By God's grace, the country's economic prospects look bright" he tweeted.

'We are at recession, not denying that'

In a series of tweets, Ameer said the Russia-Ukraine war posed serious challenges to the country's economy and the government was not trying to hide them.

Noting that all the statistics are being made public without any concealment, Ameer said that the government is taking measures under the financial leadership of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to manage the challenges arising out of the ongoing war in Europe.

He accused a group of people of conspiring to portray a bad picture by undermining the progress made by the government and not highlighting any of the efforts.

"The talk of the country going bankrupt is not something new that people are talking about. Different people are talking about it for different political purposes, to weaken the government and to derail the progress made despite the hardships that have been faced so far," he said.

"Despite the difficulties and challenges, we are rising over them through the government's policies."

Due to the political rivalry that has come up between Nasheed and President Solih, Nasheed and his supporters have been critical of the government's recently proposed budget. Nasheed's faction members have also openly opposed the hike in taxes.