The Ministry of Finance has revealed the government has spent USD182,000 from the state budget on fishermen’s fuel subsidies in the past three years.
In a written response sent to the Parliament answering inquiries, Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer revealed the state budget amount spent on fuel subsidies for fishermen. He was asked about the amount of fuel subsidy allocated by the state for the past three years and the expenditure from the state budget to purchase fuel.
In response to the questions, Minister Ameer revealed the details of the fuel subsidies for fishermen provided by the government. As such, USD10,880 was spent in 2019, USD86,095 was spent in 2020, and USD86,082 was spent in 2021. In addition, he said the finance ministry is refunding 5% of the import duty spent by fishermen on fuel.
The government provides fuel subsidies to fishermen through the Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture.