The Cabinet has today announced the plan to slash the salaries of all political appointees, including and Senior Heads of SOEs, by 20%, starting from 20th March 2020. In addition, the Cabinet has also decided to reduce government spending by MVR 1 billion as a precautionary measure to compensate for projected economic issues as a fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was made at today’s cabinet session, following a round of discussions.
During the discussion, Cabinet members stressed the necessity for such measures as COVID-19 continues to cause significant impact on national income. At today’s meeting, Cabinet members also decided to take action on the proposal by Minister of Finance at the cabinet session held on March 10th of this year. The proposal details the plan to reduce Government expenses and save up to MVR 1 billion from the State Budget.
The Cabinet Ministers gave their assurances that the decision will not result in any depletion of the allocated budget for the continuation of public services, nor will it see any reduction of civil servant salaries.