News Desk
MALE’ — The government has received MVR 160 million in dividends from state-owned enterprises so far this year, a 36 percent decline from the MVR 258 million collected over the same period last year, according to figures from the Ministry of Finance.
The drop is significant against the budget. This year’s state budget projected MVR 552 million in dividend revenue from SOEs. With 30 percent of the year’s target collected so far, the government is running well behind. Compared to the same period in 2024, the figure is down 70 percent.
The broader revenue line tells the same story. The budget estimated MVR 769 million in total state revenue from dividends, profits and interest combined, itself a 7 percent reduction from the previous year’s projection. Last year the state collected MVR 823 million from dividends and profits. The year before that it collected MVR 1.1 billion.
The government holds shares in 30 state-owned enterprises. This year it expects to receive dividends from only six of them. Dhiraagu leads the list at an estimated MVR 262 million, followed by Bank of Maldives at MVR 154 million, Maldives Airports Company Limited at MVR 50 million, Male’ Water and Sewerage Company at MVR 30 million, Housing Development Corporation at MVR 20 million and Maldives Ports Limited at MVR 12 million.
Last year the government received dividends from only three companies, Dhiraagu, BML and HDC. The expansion to six this year reflects either improved performance at some SOEs or a deliberate push to extract more from the state portfolio at a time when the government’s fiscal position remains under pressure.
The Ministry of Finance has cited a general decline in SOE profitability as one of the main reasons for the fall in dividend income. With the budget gap between projected and actual dividend revenue now standing at roughly MVR 392 million, and the year not yet half over, the pressure on those six companies to perform is considerable.
