Maldives lack conducive investment growth: Yameen

Former President Abdulla Yameen said on Sunday evening, that the Maldives lacked a conducive environment of investment growth for entrepreneurs.

He made the remarks while speaking at a rally of the People’s National Front (PNF), the party he founded after exiting the People’s Progressive Party (PPM).

In his remarks, Yameen recalled President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s promise of increasing investor confidence towards their investments in the Maldives. He said that the true meaning of improving investor confidence means that investors are not forced to take their return on investments elsewhere and continue to expand their investment portfolios in the Maldives with bigger initiatives.

Yameen further said that for smaller nations, its financial wealth alone is insufficient for progress and growth. He emphasized that enhancing a conducive environment for foreign investors is necessary to ensure the growth and development of such nations. He added that entrusting such investors with large-scale initiatives with returns reflective of this would enhance investor confidence.

“What is the status of our nation while Muizzu’s administration is days away from being 12 months old. What’s the relation of this with investor confidence?” Yameen questioned.

He said that foreign investors would only be attracted to the Maldives only if the country provides a conducive investment environment for them, which in turn would benefit the Maldivian citizens. He said such investments drive up the economy with employment and other prospects, but claimed that the situation is the opposite right now.

“Some businesses have permanently shut down. So, this is why we are saying that its quite the opposite now. When it comes to investor confidence, they no longer have the guarantee of growth and return for their investments here in the Maldives. These are the issues right now,” Yameen added.

He added that the assurance from the government would help improve investor confidence, and drive up the number of foreign investors exploring opportunities in the Maldives.

“Whether it is the tourism industry or the air taxi services, these are all large-scale investments made years back. No such investments were made during the five years of Solih’s government and in the last 14 months,” Yameen said.

He added that the Maldives earlier observed an average of 10 new resort openings each year, which was the result of strong investor confidence towards the Maldives back then.