As part of the government's efforts in reducing state expenditure, staff will be dismissed without looking at their political affiliations and their ideologies, said Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises Hassan Zareer.

While answering as to what the regulations are in which staff who affiliate themselves with the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) are dismissed from their positions, a question posed by North Galolhu Constituency MP Mohamed Ibrahim (Kudu), Minister Zareer said that the dismissal of employees from companies should be conducted with keeping in mind that they are Maldivian citizens and that their rights should be protected.

"As we have said before, we will right-size companies without looking at their political ideologies and their actions. When right-sizing, we need to keep in mind that they are Maldivian citizens. A Maldivian mother, a Maldivian father, a child of Maldives. We will not be looking at their party and instead the first thing will be to protect Maldivian citizens," said Zareer while speaking in Parliament.

Zareer said that a system has been put into place in dismissing staff from companies, with redundancy packages having ben produced with the length of their employment at the company being taken into account.

According to Zareer, they have not decided to fully dismiss staff when conducting right-sizing efforts, and that the decision has been made to facilitate opportunities for them.

According to the minister, the "Kumevi Fund", totaling MVR 600 million, that has been established by SME Digital is meant to offer a path for people instead of making them redundant at their positions. The Business Center Corporation (BCC) will prepare the necessary business proposal in acquiring loans from the fund, said the minister.

"We will offer redundancy packages based on the length of their employment. Additionally, we will conduct right-sizing efforts without dismissing them completely."

During the Parliament sitting, Zareer highlighted records from the Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB) regarding how staff have been hired to companies.

Zareer said that there were 18,676 employees in companies in 2018. However, that figure had gone up by 100 percent from 2019 to 2023.

Zareer stated that within that time frame, there were 36,729 staff at companies. However, he stated that with the hiring of 4,938 staff by the current government from 2024, that number has gone up to 41,667.

Minister Zareer said that if the Maldivian economy is to be strengthened similar to the steps being taken by developed countries, the number of employees need to be reduced.