The government’s expenditure on the unlimited Aasandha scheme and subsidies has started to decrease. According to statistics released by the Ministry of Finance, the government’s spending on Aasandha and subsidies as of the fifth day of this month has decreased compared to last year.
Last year, the government spent 3.68 billion rufiyaa on subsidies during the same period. This year, the expenditure for the same period is 3.44 billion rufiyaa. Compared to last year, spending on Aasandha has also decreased. While 3.2 billion rufiyaa was spent last year, this year’s expenditure is 1.88 billion rufiyaa. Due to the high spending on Aasandha and subsidies by the previous government and the misuse of these schemes by some parties, the current government has taken numerous measures to curb this.
As such, the prices of 250 commonly used medicines in the Maldives have been controlled, and a system has been implemented to import medicines in bulk in collaboration with STO. The government has also decided to change the subsidy system to a targeted subsidy system starting next year.
