Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed has said that the government opted to cut back on staple food subsidies because it did not want to implement an across-the-board pay cuts for government employees.
He made the statement on PSM’s Raajje Miadhu Programme on Sunday while providing details about the recently revised policy on food subsidies.
He said that previous governments had discussed the fact that staple food subsidies were going to foreigners and those who did not deserve them, but they had opted not to revise the policy and instead implemented other measures to reduce government spending, including slashing of salaries of public sector staff and laying off civil servants.
The minister said the government decided to revise the food subsidy policy in order to avoid such a situation, and it was not aimed at shoring up government finances, but to increase spending on development.
The government says it will continue providing food subsidies to those who deserve them.