President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has stated that local councils should be more self-reliant in order to boost their performance. He made the statement during a session of the third Viavathi Raajje conference which focused on fiscal autonomy of local councils.
During the session, President Solih emphasised the importance of local councils finding their own source of income in order to become more self-reliant. The president said the purpose of the session was to engage island council members and the women’s development committee (WDC) representatives in discussions to enable economic empowerment for the local residents. He added that one of the main objectives of the Decentralisation Act was to give island councils complete fiscal autonomy.
Furthermore, President Solih said the budget allotted to the councils from the state budget grows at an exponential rate each year. He, however, said there is still room for improvement and that there are ways to increase the efficiency and self-sufficiency of the councils and WDCs. He highlighted the administration allocates 5% of its total revenue and 40% of the total income generated from leasing islands and lagoons in atolls, to the island councils. He noted that councils also have the authority to form companies and operate businesses to generate more income and that fiscal autonomy was a major topic of discussion at the previous Viavathe Raajje conference.
During the session, President Solih was joined at the panel by Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer and Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismail who provided participants with updates on the government's efforts to give councils fiscal autonomy. The participants were also given the opportunity to discuss the issues raised during the Fanoalla Dharubaaru conference which took place prior to the conference.