STO makes MVR 44 million profits in May

State wholesaler State Trading Organization (STO) made a profit of MVR 44 million in May, the company has said.

STO Managing Director Adam Azim told local media that the company has been able to maintain projected profits due to cuts in expenditure.

In November, President Abdulla Yameen declared that the STO was bankrupt.

The Managing Director at the time Shahid Ali was dismissed and Defense Minister Mohamed Nazim’s brother Adam Azim was appointed to the post.

Shahid told an emergency meeting of parliament in early November that government-owned companies had failed to pay the STO the almost US$40 million it was owed, and appealed to the central bank to use the foreign currency reserves to bail it out of its debt.

In January, STO launched a campaign to cut operational costs by MVR 50 million in 2014 (US$ 3,242,542).

The state-owned STO is the country’s primary wholesaler, responsible for bringing in the vast majority of basic foodstuffs such as rice and flour, as well as other imported commodities such as electrical goods.

It also imports the vast majority of the Maldives’ oil, used to fuel fishing and transport vessels, diesel generators, air-conditioners and water desalination plants.