Athif Shakoor: Some embassies can be closed to reduce expenses

Former head of central bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and economist, Athif Shakoor, has suggested that some of the Maldivian embassies in foreign nations can be temporarily closed down to cut the state’s expenditure.

Speaking during the second episode of SSTV’s ‘Talking Economy’ program, Athif detailed that MVR 334 million was allocated in this year’s state budget for the operations of 20 embassies abroad. He raised the question as to whether all 20 embassies need to be in operation at present, in light of Maldives’ current economic situation.

Underscoring that there are multiple embassies in some regions such as Europe, he explained that a huge expense can be saved by temporarily closing nine such embassies and cutting down the expenses of the remaining embassies by 50 percent.

As per statistics shared by Athif, MVR 274 million can be saved by temporarily closing nine embassies with the expenses of the remaining embassies, when cut down by 50 percent, is at MVR MVR 137 million.

Henceforth, MVR 197 million can be saved from the allocated budget for embassies with this course of action which Athif states is the equivalent of funds required for the operations of all independent institutions of the state for seven months.

“Henceforth, these are factors that can be considered as we undertake efforts seeking savings while the current expenditure is so high,” he emphasized.

The highest budget from embassies has been allocated to the Maldivian Embassy based in Sri Lanka at MVR 40 million. This is followed by:

Maldivian Embassy in Malaysia – MVR 36 million

Maldivian Embassy in Thailand – MVR 23 million

Maldives’ Permanent Mission in the UN – MVR 19 million

The public has voiced criticism during both the current and previous administrations over the high-salary political appointments to embassies and missions based in foreign nations that are operated under the Foreign Ministry.