President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has decided to revise the disability allowance and introduce additional allowances.
The cabinet recommended the changes after deliberating on a paper submitted by the Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Services. The government will soon release further details of the new disability allowances to the media and the public. The allowance framework has been revised for the first time since it was introduced 12 years ago.
There are more than 36,000 people with special needs in the Maldives, according to statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). They are currently being provided with a monthly allowance of USD129.
Furthermore, President Solih has said that the administration is also focused on increasing the USD324 allowance given to elderly citizens. He also addressed the topic of pay harmonisation and noted its significance in bringing about favourable transformations in salary structures across all sectors. He acknowledged that the completion of these efforts had been delayed due to the economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that they would have been achieved by now under normal circumstances.