The Government of the Maldives has revealed that instead of paying a set amount for purchasing fish, in the future MIFCO will review prices globally and set the price at which fish will be purchased weekly.
Dhauru
Following the protests from local fishermen due to unsettled payment by the Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO), the Government has decided to make some changes to how the payments will be processed in the future. The protests, which started early in 2024 highlighted one of the biggest concerns of local fishermen, as MIFCO continued to owe fishermen large sums of money. With this, the Government started the process of clearing the debt owed to the fishermen as well as looking into better ways to manage the fisheries sector- which continues to heavily depend on state funding.
Although the cost at which MIFCO buys fish from the local fishermen has changed over the years, it appears that the Government may be looking at a more long-term and sustainable solution that may finally settle the matters of un-settled payments and protests. The Government of the Maldives has revealed that instead of paying a set amount for purchasing fish, in the future MIFCO will review prices globally and set the price at which fish will be purchased weekly. Although the prices may vary weekly, the Government has stated that this is a more sustainable solution to ensure that fishermen are paid their dues without having to wait long periods of time.
According to the Fisheries Minister Ahmed Shiyam, with these changes, fishermen can expect their due payments within a span of two weeks. With this, the Government will be one step closer to fulfilling its promise to the local fishermen when it comes to ensuring that due payments are made by MIFCO within 48 hours of the fish being weighed to be purchased. While there are hopes that the fisheries sector and the payment process may change in the near future, the minister has highlighted that processing these payments within 48 hours will require some more effort as MIFCO lacks the cash flow to accommodate the purchases. In order to achieve this, the minister states that MIFCO needs to be a company that can accomplish its break-even.
When we start straight away, we don’t believe the fishermen can be paid within 48 hours. However, our goal is to pay [the fishermen for the fish] within two weeks, with this change.
With this announcement, there was also the request from fishermen to increase the oil subsidies from the Government. Addressing this request, the Fisheries Minister has stated that although MIFCO has reduced the price of purchasing fish from fishermen, the subsidy given to fishermen to buy oil will not be changed. Giving reasons why the Government has decided not to increase the subsidy, minister Shiham highlighted the growing debt situation in the Maldives and the lack of effort put in by the former administration to manage the situation and increase the state revenues.
