Statement by Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair regarding the electricity subsidies announced by the National Social Protection Agency

“The Maldives’ economy was left in a terrible mess by the former government. We have to pay back hundreds of millions of dollars of debts and unpaid bills.

“STELCO was also left in a terrible financial mess, with debts over Rf 700 million. The government paid off 300 million of those debts but if STELCO does not stop losing money, the company will be in serious trouble. We cannot allow that to happen.

“STELCO has been forced to raise electricity prices because it cannot afford to lose money indefinitely.

“The government understands that higher electricity prices are painful for ordinary people. We are therefore providing subsidies, particularly for poorer people, to help them pay their electricity bills.

“The President has established a special taskforce to assist the National Social Protection Agency (NSPA) in allocating subsidies.

“The taskforce has decided to subsidise the first 400 units of electricity, for everyone, for the next five months.

“For those households that use less than 400 units of electricity (which is 60% of households in Male’) prices will be lower with the new subsidy than they were in 2008.

“It was a DRP government that racked up millions of dollars of debts and unpaid bills. And it was a DRP government that left STELCO in a financial mess and yet, it is the DRP who is out on the streets shouting and yelling.

“The government is doing its best to try and fix the country’s economic problems but the DRP are not helping.

“It seems that the DRP would rather see the country go bankrupt than the government succeed”.