Minister rejects claims of lack of development projects in islands, says economy growing ‘day by day’

Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed slammed claims of lack of infrastructure development projects in islands outside the capital as “not completely accurate” on Monday, adding that the Maldivian economy has been growing “day by day”.

In an appearance on PSM’s ‘Raajje Miadhu’ show on Monday night, Saeed said the incumbent administration has been engaged in numerous efforts to improve the Maldivian economy.

He said that people, if they give it proper thought, will realize that many of the difficulties have been resolved and the economy is growing.

“Today, the Maldivian economy is moving forward. Its growing. The income is increasing. If you think about it, you’ll realize that the difficulties facing the people have been resolved and the country is progressing. The economy is growing,” he said.

Saeed said that the government’s economic efforts cannot be assessed by infrastructure development projects in islands alone, but also efforts to support the private sector, including the tourism industry.

He said that the government has been making major investments in tourism.

Saeed also addressed allegations of lack of infrastructure development projects in the islands by the government, suggesting that such claims “are not completely accurate.”

“One of the claims made by our strongest critics is that there aren’t any developmental projects being run in the islands. That its not being run. That its not making any progress. This is not completely accurate. There are projects being run in a lot of islands,” he said.

Saeed said that various government institutions and state-owned enterprises have engaged in numerous efforts to deliver President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s pledges to individual islands and cities “to the letter.”

He said that more projects will be launched in the coming days.

The incumbent has been repeatedly hit with criticism over lack of developmental projects. In 2024, the administration blamed the stall in projects to inadequate budget allocations passed by the Parliament in 2023, back when the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) held a supermajority in the legislative assembly.

The administration promised that projects would restart this year, with the new annual budget passed by the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC)-led Parliament.

Fiscal development reports released by the Financial Ministry show a sharp decline in spending on Public Sector Investment Program (PSIP) projects. The government allocated a budget of MVR 12.38 billion for PSIP projects this year. However, only MVR 1.5 billion was spent as of July 12 – compared to MVR 4.8 billion during the same period last year.