The Maldives Industrial Fisheries Complex (MIFCO) has announced that it will disburse payments to fishermen without interruption, even on public holidays, under its plan to pay for fish purchases within 48 hours.
MIFCO made this statement to assure fishermen that payments will be issued without interruption during weekends, which are bank holidays, and on Fridays, which is an official non-working day for MIFCO.
Disbursing payments within a minimum of 48 hours of fishermen weighing their catch at MIFCO is a presidential pledge of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu. As part of the current administration's efforts to fulfill this pledge, a "48-hour payment plan" was formulated and implemented on Fishermen's Day this year, December 10.
Since the implementation of the plan, there were only two days where payments were not disbursed within 48 hours. These were the payments for the 11th and 12th of this month. Because the following two days were the weekend, the payments for those two days were settled on the 15th of this month. The failure to disburse payments over that weekend can be attributed to the fact that they were bank holidays and prior attention or preparation had not been made for it.
Except for those two days, payments for all other days so far have been disbursed within 48 hours. This includes the past weekend. MIFCO stated today that although tomorrow is Friday, yesterday's payments will be disbursed tomorrow in accordance with the plan. MIFCO also stated that it will work to maintain the 48-hour payment plan and disburse payments without interruption even on holidays.
From December 10 to the 24th of this month, fishermen sold 1,785 metric tonnes of fish to MIFCO facilities. This amounts to MVR 19,622,717 (nineteen million, six hundred and twenty-two thousand, seven hundred and seventeen rufiyaa). After deducting MVR 4,249,991 (four million, two hundred and forty-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-one rufiyaa) for business transactions fishermen conducted with MIFCO, a total of MVR 15,372,726 (fifteen million, three hundred and seventy-two thousand, seven hundred and twenty-six rufiyaa) has been disbursed to fishermen.
