Author: Mohamed Reehaan

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu says the government has made engineering and science education a special priority. He set out the case on PSM’s Nation Chat programme. The President designated 30 August as Engineers’ Day last year. The date marks the opening of the Sinamalé Bridge on 30 August 2018. President Muizzu said the country needs a day that recognizes engineers and the work they do. He also called for wider awareness of the field among young people. He point to a gap in the numbers. Too few students in higher education pick science, mathematics and engineering, he said. Far more…

The Maldives and India have opened talks on closer work in the environment sector. Climate Change, Environment and Energy Minister Ali Shareef met India’s Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav in Ulaabaatar. Ahmed Shaan, Director of Knowledge Management, Research and Assessment, joined the Maldivian side. Both ministers traveled to Mongolia for the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The two sides used the meeting to restate the closeness of the bilateral relationship. They then turned to Maldives-India environmental cooperation and atmospheric science. The talks covered concrete ground. The two countries examined joint…

The People’s Majlis (Maldives Parliament) passed the government’s amendments to the Foreign Currency Act on Wednesday. Members voted 47 in favor and 12 against. The vote covered the bill as the committee revised it. Holhudhoo MP Abdul Sattar Mohamed introduced the bill on the government’s behalf. The government said it wanted to review the criteria that decide which businesses must bank their foreign currency earnings and which must exchange them. It also wanted firmer rules on how Category A establishments convert foreign currency. The foreign currency law amendments require two groups to deposit foreign currency income into a bank account.…

Maldives Ports Limited will begin construction this month on a yacht marina at Uligam in Haa Alif Atoll, a facility the government expects to turn the northernmost inhabited island into a docking point for recreational and commercial vessels entering the country. Economic Development and Trade Minister Mohamed Saeed said in a social media post that the marina would make Uligam and the wider northern region a hub for such traffic. The facility will offer convenient, safe and straightforward port services, he said. Uligam already serves as a first stop for yachts sailing into the Maldives from abroad. Large numbers dock…

The Maldives Monetary Authority has opened investigations into money changers after finding that businesses earning large sums in foreign currency are moving dollars through the black market, Governor Ahmed Munnawar said. Munnawar, speaking to reporters at the President’s Office, said black market activity had grown sharply over the past month. The conflict in the Middle East briefly disrupted the dollar market, he said, but did not justify a parallel market of the current size. The central bank is now running monitoring operations aimed at money changers. Work carried out with enforcement agencies identified companies with substantial foreign currency earnings channeling…

Ibrahim Shiuree has resigned as chief executive and managing director of Visit Maldives Corporation (VMC), the state-owned company that markets the country abroad. The announcement came on Monday. No reason was given. The timing is conspicuous. VMC said on 19 August that Shiuree had been elected to the Executive Board of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), an elevation from the PATA Board seat he had held since August 2025. The corporation called it a win for the destination. Five days later, its chief executive is out. VMC pitched the PATA seat as institutional, not personal. The corporation said the…

Maldivian government spending on grants and subsidies has climbed to USD 524 million so far this year, a 44 percent increase on the USD 363 million paid out over the same period in 2025, as the war-driven rise in world fuel prices feeds through to the cost of keeping the lights on. The figures, current to 13 August, come from the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises’ Weekly Fiscal Report. The ministry attributed the bulk of the increase to fuel prices pushed higher by the conflict in the Middle East, which has inflated the cost of subsidizing the diesel that…

MALÉ – The Maldives’ state-owned water utility expects to begin work by the middle of next year on a desalination plant that will sit 500 meters beneath the surface of the sea, in what would be one of the first commercial deployments of the technology anywhere in the world. Hussain Fahmy, Managing Director of Malé Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC), said the company had already signed an agreement with a Norwegian partner and was now running feasibility, technical and environmental studies. He was speaking on “Ahaashey Bunaanan”, a programme produced jointly by Dhivehi Raajjeyge Adu and Television Maldives. Fahmy said…

STO has launched GE Healthcare’s Vscan portable ultrasound scanner in the Maldives. STO Chief Executive and Managing Director Shimad Ibrahim launched the device at a ceremony at Hotel Jen on Tuesday night. Jagdish Babu, GE Healthcare’s Sales Head for South Asia, attended the launch. The Vscan is a handheld unit that connects to iPhones, Android phones and laptops. It produces images in standard DICOM format, which allows clinicians to share scans with hospitals and specialists elsewhere in the country. STO’s healthcare team expects the device to extend scanning services beyond clinic consultation rooms. The company says the format suits the…

The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee has approved sweeping Foreign Exchange Act amendments that criminalize the sale and advertising of US dollars at rates outside the bands set by the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA). Members passed the bill by a majority of those present. The committee had received it back for a second review before the vote. What the Fines Look Like The revised law builds a tiered penalty structure, and it expressed every figure in US dollars rather than Rufiyaa. Anyone who sells foreign currency outside the official MMA bands faces a fine of USD 1,620 to USD 64,800. The…