The Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) has reduced its fish purchasing price to MVR 20 with effect on Monday.
Fisheries Minister Ahmed Shiyam told Adhadhu yesterday that the government has made the decision and informed MIFCO.
“From tomorrow onward, MIFCO will buy fish at the rate of MVR 20 per kilo,” Shiyam said.
The previous purchasing price of MVR 25 per kilo was set on September 16, 2023. Citing confirmation of duty-free exports to the UK and Europe, the previous government raised the price of fish during the presidential election campaign.
However, Fisheries Minister Shiyam said there has been no indication during the past three months that the UK or Europe would eliminate tariffs as claimed by the previous government.
“Even fishers say that it’s important to find a way to pay them even by reducing the price to MVR 20. And we had to make this change to save MIFCO,” Shiyam said.
The day will come in the future when MIFCO will start paying fishers regularly, he said. Large sums are presently owed to fishing boats as outstanding payments for fish catch.
The government would have to inject MVR 1.1 billion as subsidies to MIFCO this year if the MVR 25 per kilo rate was to be kept unchanged, Fisheries Minister Shiyam informed Parliament in response to a question sent from Dhaandhoo MP Yaugoob Abdulla last November.
The fish purchasing price hike from MVR 17 to MVR 25 per kilo caused a loss of MVR 11 per kilo with the inclusion of MIFCO's administrative costs, according to Shiyam's response read out in today's sitting of Parliament.
"I do not believe now, and did not believe then, that the change brought by the government at the time, between the first and second rounds of voting for political purposes without any research at all, had been done in good faith," said Shiyam, who was formerly the MP for Naifaru.
While MVR 250 million had been allocated for subsidies in last year's budget, the amount increased to MVR 500 million due to the price hike, Shiyam said.
"I do not believe that the government is capable of providing MVR 1.1 billion as subsidies with the current income. What we hear from fishers is to maintain a price where fishers could be regularly paid in a manner that does not become a burden and difficulty for the state or other Maldivian people," Shiyam said about the government's finances.
The amount owed to fishers by November 16 (when the previous government's term ended) was MVR 195 million. After assuming office, the current government settled payments for some of these bills.
However, Fisheries Minister Shiyam's statements suggested that MIFCO has been unable to regularly pay for new fish catch as a result of having to make payments for bills in the backlog. In order to solve the problem, the government previously said it intends to pay fishers even if it requires taking a loan with a sovereign guarantee.
