President Mohamed Muizzu, upon parliamentary recommendation in accordance with Section 6(3) of the Maldives Monetary Authority Act (1981), has removed Ali Hashim from the position of Governor of the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and proposed, for parliamentary consideration, Ahmed Munawar as the new Governor.
Munawar has previously served as the Minister of Finance during the Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom administration and currently holds the post of advisor to the Minister of Finance.
Parliament decided on the recommendation to remove Hashim on Monday, with 63 members voting in favour and nine against.
Meanwhile, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said that Hashim’s removal, as recommended by the Parliament, is not the solution to the country’s financial woes.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Hanimaadhoo, Abdul Gafoor Moosa, described the motion as a dark day in parliamentary history. While all the speeches leading up to the vote attributed the nation’s current economic decline to the governor, that was not the case, he said.
The previous MDP-led administration decided to go ahead with debt monetisation because similar measures had been undertaken by countries across the world to overcome the pandemic, Moosa said, continuing on to highlight that it had been undertaken through the requisite checks and balances.
“The central bank is also under a law enacted by this parliament. When this parliament passes a law and allows for debt monetisation, the governor then has to print it [money]. That’s how it happened,” Moosa said as he went on to highlight that removing the governor will not solve the financial crisis.
According to the MP, the economy was in good stead when the current administration took over but the nation was now facing financial hurdles due to high expenditure — to which the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Qasim Ibrahim, on a point of order, replied that Moosa was making statements that were assuredly untrue.
“Look at the state of the economy when the administrations changed. The amount of revenue coming into the Maldives. You can see that in the figures. That fact cannot be concealed, Honourable Speaker. Expenditure is increasing,” Moosa said, responding to Ibrahim.
According to Moosa, while the previous administration’s expenditure was high, current expenditure was even higher. The financial crisis was not caused due to the deterioration of the economy and the decline in income, he said.
The country’s financial system was running smoothly under his watch and a change of Governor should not be seen as a solution to the financial challenges facing the state, Moosa said.
“Changing the governor will not save a dollar. Changing the governor will not bring more prosperity to the people. We can cook up imaginary tales. But it will have no effect. There should be sincerity… The administration could be praised but the praise will not benefit the people. We are still thinking of reviving a culture of getting things by praising towards our own [selfish] purposes,” Moosa said.
Minority leader and MP for South Hithadhoo, Ibrahim Nazil, said the current administration does not have the capacity to manage the nation’s budget and described the governor’s dismissal as a cover-up of the administration’s ignorance.