Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismali denied the claims by Restaurant Association of Maldives (RAM) where they said only four businesses in the food service industry received loans aimed at economic recovery in the pandemic.
In the virtual press conference held in the President's Office yesterday, Minister Fayyaz said RAM had been providing false information to the media. He said so far five restaurant businesses have been provided loans amounting to a total of 16 million Rufiya via Bank of Maldives (BML).
"Five businesses have been provided loans via BML amounting to 16 million Rufiya. SME [Small and Medium Enterprises] Bank has provided 156 restaurants with a total of 33 million Rufiyaa in loans. Ninety of those 156 businesses are in the Greater Male' Area," he said.
According to President of RAM, most businesses want Islamic Financing. However, when requested, the government has been turning a deaf ear towards them, he has said.
Greater Male' Area was locked down on May 26, which caused the already suffering food service industry further misfortunes. RAM had protested on Monday, calling for equal opportunities to be provided for all businesses.
However, as per President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's announcement yesterday, starting tomorrow onwards cafe'/restaurants can provide dine-in services as well, during non-curfew hours.
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