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Fishing industry may be partly privatised
Fisheries Minister A Kamaludeen said there are plans to sell off government's 49% stake in the investment sector to foreign bidders.
The Maldivian government is likely to partly privatise the state-owned fishing industry, the Minivan News reported on Monday.
Fisheries Minister Abdulla Kamaludeen said that there are plans to sell off government's 49 per cent stake in the investment sector to foreign bidders.
The Ministry clarified the government's position last Wednesday.
The Fisheries Ministry and state-owned MIFCO (Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company) have come under increasing attack in recent weeks by incensed fishermen who accuse the government of incompetence.
Fishermen are forced to dump hundreds of tones of prime tuna into the sea every month because the heavily regulated fishing industry is incapable of matching demand with supply.
Opposition sources allege that the reason for privatisation is less to do with a new-found government commitment to free market reform than helping out cronies, the Minivan News reported.
