Ibrahim Hassan (Evila) the MP for Thoddoo constituency have said that the foreigners and tourists using 41 percent of the food subsidies should not be a reason for the government to ‘punish’ the citizens. He urged the government not to do that.
Ibrahim Hassan said that even in other countries, foreigners are not provided with food subsidies and it should not be done in the Maldives as well. He said that the government should find a mechanism to stop giving subsidies to foreigners only rather than cutting the subsidies altogether.
He said that even with the current system 41% of the subsidies will go to expat workers and tourists. He further said that, due to this sudden changes in subsidy policies of the government, a lot of people are facing hardships and the government should always try to make life easy for citizens.
Ibrahim Hassan also said that, if the government looks into the number of people who gives Zakat, then they will know that still most people use ordinary rice and not the expensive brands of rice.
He also noted the importance of mentioning omportant issues like reducing subsidies in the state budget before taking a huge sudden decision like this.
MP Evila asks the government not to ‘punish’ the citizens because foreigners are using food subsidies
