President Mohamed Muizzu has said that there are no discussions on cutting public spending due to the ongoing war in the Middle East and no plans to implement cost-cutting measures after the April 4 local council elections.

At a press conference at the President's Office today (March 30), Adhadhu journalist Mohamed Shahzan questioned Muizzu about planned cost-cutting measures and whether action would be taken after the elections.

“We have not had any such discussions, and no such decisions have been made,” Muizzu said.

The opposition parties accuse the government of being reluctant to implement cost-cutting measures due to the elections. Meanwhile, government ministries and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are hiring more employees.

But Muizzu denied the allegations today.

“There will be no measures to be taken after the elections. We are announcing the measures and policies through the weekly media briefing,” Muizzu said.

The government previously announced that it had changed the schedule of development projects and suspended overseas trips by ministries other than the Foreign Ministry.

Finance Minister Moosa Zameer said it would take four months to return to normalcy even if the war stops tomorrow.

Countries with stronger reserves, including China, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and India, are taking measures to cut spending by halting development projects, cutting the salaries of high-paid workers, controlling subsidies and energy efficiency measures.