In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Island Aviation Services (IAS) on Sunday, decided to slash the salaries of senior management and company board members by 20 percent.
According to IAS, the measure was taken in response to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, to cut down on company costs.
In addition, the company has chosen to offer their staff the option of taking a non-paid leave for a period of one to three months and will offer one month's paid leave for staff that are pregnant, over 55 years of age, or have a pre-existing medical condition.
In order to address the economic repercussions on the local economy due to COVID-19, the government continues to take drastic measures to cut down on state expenditure.
Last week, the government approved decisions to cut down the salaries of political appointees by 20 percent and close government offices from March 19 to 26 as measures against the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
At the same time, the Parliament also passed a motion to slash 20 percent of parliament members' basic salaries for a period of two months, saving the state MVR 739,000 per month.
Despite measures to cut down on state expenditure in response to COVID-19 outbreak, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has maintained that the government has no intention of reducing the wages of civil servants.
Maldives currently has 13 confirmed and 10 active cases of COVID-19. The country recorded its first two recoveries last Friday, and the third on Saturday. No Maldivians have tested positive for the virus as of yet. So far, only tourists and resort employees have confirmed infections with no local transmissions.
The World Health Organization has classified the spread of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus has infected more than 338,700 and claimed over 14,600 lives around the world. However, out of those infected, more than 99,000 have recovered.
Sign In