Govt. to reduce 1 billion in expenditure to combat virus effects on economy

The government has decided to bring down state expenditure by MVR 1 billion.

The move comes as the government seeks ways to reduce the impact of the Covid-19 virus on the economy. It was approved in a cabinet meeting today.

The government has also decided to reduce the salaries of political appointees today. The parliament is also working to implement a 20 percent reduction in the wages of MPs and the food provision of MPs.

The virus has had a massive impact on the economy which is heavily dependent on tourism. The industry has seen hundreds of thousands of bookings canceled as the top two markets of tourists to the country were placed under travel restrictions by the government to stop the spread of the disease.

The two markets, Italy and China have been worst-hit by the virus. The Maldives also imposed restrictions of Germany, France, Iran, South Korea, United Kingdom Malaysia and Bangladesh.

Maldives has so far had 13 confirmed cases of the virus. They are all foreigners, and the state, which anticipated the virus, has implemented stringent measures to stop the spread of the virus any further.