Stop holding functions. Stop flying. Cut a third of your staff.

Published analysis

Read the full article on Maldives News: Stop holding functions. Stop flying. Cut a third of your staff.

Standfirst. The state ordered its own companies to stop spending in April and July. Then it kept awarding football grounds and adding staff.

Key facts

PCB Circular 454/CIR/2026/4 (8 April 2026) gave every SOE sixteen austerity instructions including no functions, no overseas travel, no business class, and a promotion and recruitment freeze; Circular 454/CIR/2026/8 (12 July, effective 13 July) ordered a 33 percent headcount cut against end-February 2026 levels, deadline 13 October 2026, with weekly headcount trackers emailed to the Finance Ministry.
The state kept spending elsewhere: MVR 102.16m of football grounds awarded since councils were told in July 2024 to suspend ceremonies and sports events, plus MVR 82.9m of handball court votes; two 2025 ceremony votes overran (foreign dignitaries MVR 17.5m approved against MVR 42.0m revised).
MTCC added 170 staff in the three months after the 18 April cut order (6,479 at end-April to 6,649 at end-July), per RTI documents published by Sun on 19 August.
The Sports Ministry carries 718 staff, 386 of them political appointees against 332 civil servants, per a staff list leaked to Adhadhu (20 August).
The Fenaka Addu dismissal count is contested: about 90 (Adhadhu), more than 100 (Mayor Nizar), 189 (a Hithadhoo Fenaka Viber group); Fenaka has published no number.
Zareer’s case for cutting: SOE headcount rose from 18,676 in 2018 to 41,667 now, 53 percent of employment is public sector, and an MVR 600m Kumevi Fund at SME Digital will lend to departing staff.