Economic Minister Fayyaz Ismail has revealed that the Maldives will introduce an unemployment insurance scheme with the help of the World Bank, in the coming year.

Speaking at the ceremony held at Hotel Jen to declare minimum wage, Minister Fayyaz said that the government had spent over MVR 450 million to assist employees who lost their jobs or whose income was affected during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing income support allowance. The Minister further said that income support allowance aided greatly in the economic recovery of the country.

The Minister revealed that with the help of the World Bank, a pilot program for the unemployment allowance will be introduced in mid-2022. Depending on the success of this, the plan will then be rolled out across the nation.

According to the Statistics Bureau, there are 10,000 unemployed people in the Maldives.

Minister Fayyaz further highlighted that the government had introduced a job portal where job seekers could easily access job openings with the click of a button.