News Desk
The government needs to overhaul its policies and curb the soaring demand for foreign exchange instead of handing out dollars to everyone traveling abroad for holidays or honeymoons, prominent lawyer and former Kendhoo MP Ali Hussain said.
Speaking on a Sanghu TV show, Ali Hussain said fixing the country’s ongoing foreign exchange crunch boils down to two options: boosting the dollar supply or cutting down demand.
While essential foreign travel for medical treatment or higher education should still be supported, he argued that state intervention has gone too far when it comes to leisure trips.
“I don’t believe the state is obligated to provide dollars for people going abroad on honeymoons, picnics, or vacations,” he said. “That is just not how a natural economy works.”
He pointed out that the $500 travel allowance handed out through banks via MMA simply leaves the country and never flows back into the local economy.
Ali Hussain also took aim at recent regulatory changes that he says have choked off the dollar supply circulating in the local market. Previously, resort workers received their salaries and service charges in US dollars, which injected hard currency directly into the domestic economy.
Now that resorts are required to pay staff in Rufiyaa, that pool of circulating dollars has effectively dried up. Trying to force market behavior through indirect mandates is ultimately backfiring and hurting the economy, he warned.