President Nasheed has ratified an amendment to the Pension Act delaying the bill’s applicability to expatriate workers by three years.
The original pension act required expatriate workers to be enrolled in the Maldives Retirement Pension Scheme within 12 months.
The pension act has now been published in the government’s gazette.
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(0)The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has increased the amount of dollars auctioned to local banks by 20 percent, after setting a dollar exchange reference price of Rf14.75.
The MMA has previously set a limit for the sale of dollars based on its reserve of foreign currency, when dollars could only be sold at the pegged rate of Rf12.85.
The managed float of the rufiya within a 20 percent band of that rate has increased competition among local banks selling dollars, with rates at some institutions dropping to Rf13.8. Prior to the managed float, the blackmarket was hovering between Rf14.2-Rf14.8.
However while the move has increased competition with banks, many companies dealing in dollar commodities such as air travel have increased their rates of exchange to the maximum permitted Rf15.42.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM) has announced it intends to hold a ‘May Day’ rally on May 1 to promote workers’ rights and pressure the government to comply with international labour conventions.
“There are huge concerns about the recent regulations on strikes, which totally bans strikes on resorts,” said TEAM Vice President Maroof Zakir.
Maroof said TEAM was hoping civil service employees, taxi drivers and workers from other sectors would join tourism employees for the 4pm-6pm rally in Male’ on May 1, International Workers’ Day.
“We will start from the social centre and march down Majeedee Magu,” Maroof said.
(0)Dislikes(0)A protest march jointly organised by the Health Ministry and local NGOs took place down the main street of Male’ yesterday amidst heightened concerns regarding the prevalence of sexual violence against women, minors and persons with special needs.
Police revealed last week that 27 sexual violence cases were reported in the past three weeks, including 16 cases of child sexual abuse.
Sun Online reports that participants held up placards calling on the authorities to bring sex crimes perpetrators to justice as they marched down Majeedee Magu towards the capital’s artificial beach area. The placards carried slogans such as “stop hiding secrets of criminals” and “zero tolerance for child abuse”.
Addressing participants at the artificial beach, Health Minister Dr Aminath Jameel urged the public not to refrain from reporting incidents of sexual violence against women and children.
Members of NGOs Care Society, Society of Hope for Women, Society of Women against Drugs (SWAD), JCI and the Red Crescent were joined at the march by MPs Imthiyaz Fahmy of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and Ahmed Nihan and Dr Afrashim Ali of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) as well as film stars and senior officials of the former government.
Gender Department officials meanwhile explained that the turnout was lower than expected as the event was originally planned for Friday, but had to be cancelled at the last moment due to bad weather.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police have confirmed the death a 29-year old man yesterday after a motor bike he was riding reportedly collided with a pick-up truck on the island of Hulhumale’.
Police told Minivan News that the man, identified as Abdulla Saeed, died late last night after a bike he was riding along with a fellow passenger reportedly collided with a truck on the island’s main street.
Police officials told Minivan News that they were currently not sure of the speed either of the vehicles were travelling at when they collided, but claimed that no one else involved in the incident was thought to have sustained serious injuries.
Following the collision, police said that Saeed was taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in Male’.
(0)Dislikes(0)A vehicle rally with the slogan “Stop Abuse” took place in Addu City yesterday in the wake of public shock and outrage over the brutal rape of a 74 year-old woman in Hithadhoo last week.
Haveeru reports that local NGOs, businesses and state enterprises participated in the rally across the interconnected islands of the southernmost Seenu Atoll. While Housing Minister Mohamed Aslam along with some MPs also took part, Haveeru notes that public participation was low.
According to the Child Protection Services Centre in Hithadhoo, 237 cases of child abuse and 58 cases of domestic violence have been reported since the centre was established.
(0)Dislikes(0)Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Governor Fazeel Najeeb met Finance Minister Ahmed Inaz last week to discuss the policy measures taken to alleviate the dollar shortage and determine what additional efforts could be undertaken to resolve the problem.
According to an MMA press statement on Thursday, Najeeb and Inaz agreed that given the continuing scarcity of dollars, “the problem of partiality by some to transactions with dollars instead of rufiyaa is tied to the dollar shortage.”
“It was therefore decided to go forward by consulting the business community about the issue,” it adds.
Deputy Governor Aishath Zahira, State Minister Ahmed Naseer and MMA technical staff also participated in the meeting.
Local media meanwhile reported a sharp rise in the wholesale prices of a number of commodities last week, ranging from powdered milk to areca nuts. Following the government’s decision earlier this month to replace the fixed exchanged rate with a managed float of the rufiya within a band of 20 percent of the 12.85 peg, newly-appointed Finance Minister Inaz told press that he expected the economy to stabilise within three months.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police arrested three men Thursday on suspicion of stealing a safe with over Rf800,000 (US$62,250) in cash and jewellery from a house in Maafanu ward of Male’.
Haveeru reports that the third suspect, Ahmed Muaz, municipality register number 8499, was found Thursday night hiding in his girlfriend’s bathroom.
A police media official said that officers at the scene broke the bathroom door after Muaz refused to come out.
Muaz was arrested in connection with the burglary of a safe containing US$38,000 and Rf30,000 (US$2,330) in cash along with expensive watches and jewellery. The safe was stolen from the third floor of a Maafanu residence.
Jaufar Mohamed, 29, M. Medhuriya, and Ahmed Riyaz, 29, M. Hasthy, were meanwhile taken into custody before police issued a public search notice for Muaz.
Police revealed that one of the suspects, Jaufar Mohamed, had previously been sentenced to jail and that efforts were underway to determine how or why he was released.
Meanwhile the Criminal Court revealed that a man brought before the court yesterday for assaulting a shop owner after threatening to kill him had previously been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Court records showed that Ismail Waheed, G. Sundance, had been convicted for possession of 25 packets of drugs.
The court ordered police to keep the repeat offender in custody for 15 days and to hand him over to the penitentiary department within that period.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has published a dollar reference exchange rate of Rf 14.75, in an effort to give an approximate determination of the value of the currency.
Currency exchangers are permitted to sell dollars within a 20 percent band of the pegged rate of Rf 12.85, after the government launched a managed float of the rufiya earlier this month. Rf 14.75 is roughly the value of exchange on the black market prior to the managed float.
Banks are required to submit their daily rates to the MMA.
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