Committee grants one additional chance after Governor fails to appear once again

Central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA)’s Governor Ali Hashim has informed his inability to attend Tuesday’s Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee’s meeting scheduled for 11:00am, after being summoned by the Committee as they seek to begin work on a no-confidence motion against him.

Hashim was summoned to the Public Accounts Committee for the same purpose on Monday as well. However, he had sent a letter, informing his inability to attend in which he attributed his absence to health-related reasons.

Hashim again failed to appear at the meeting which got rescheduled for 11:00am on Tuesday.

Speaking at the meeting, Maamigili MP Qasim Ibrahim who serves as Public Accounts Committee’s Chairperson said the Parliament has been informed Hashim will be unable to attend as he is still unwell.

Henceforth, the Committee decided to grant an additional chance to Hashim, and in this trajectory, has scheduled a meeting for 11:00am on Wednesday.

The no-confidence motion against Hashim was initiated when the Public Accounts Committee earlier passed a motion to counsel Parliament Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla to recommend to President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu to dismiss Hashim.

The motion, put forth by Deputy Speaker, Dhiggaru MP Ahmed Nazim, accused Hashim of failure to perform his duties as the head of the country’s central bank.

In this regard, he detailed that MMA’s monetary policy had not been implemented to its best capacity as the Maldives’ economy declined to a point where it would be difficult to revive.

Nazim also said Hashim recommended indirect measures to control the issuance of bank loans and for banks to maintain reserves at a certain limit which had reduced the amount of money circulating in the economy. Moreover, he added that he does not see MMA properly regulating the domestic market, which the government is now seeking funds from.

The motion was passed at the floor, following which the Committee is now tasked with reviewing the no-confidence motion.

Hashim has refuted the accusations against him via the letter he sent to the Parliament on Monday.

In this regard, he attributed Maldives’ current economic troubles to the failure of the government to act on counsel provided by MMA and international financial institutions over the past years.  

According to the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Act, the governor of the central bank will be dismissed by the president, under the advisement of the parliament.