New Financing Facility Introduced to Increase Fish Product Production

A financing facility named 'Maha Manfaa' has been introduced to provide financial assistance to increase the production of fish products.

The opportunity to submit applications for this facility, introduced today jointly by the Ministry of Fisheries and Ocean Resources and SME Digital, is scheduled to open from the 13th of this month.

Under this facility, financing up to MVR 400,000 will be issued without collateral, and a maximum of 7 years has been decided for the repayment of the facility. Additionally, SME Digital states that a maximum grace period of 12 months and an annual financing rate of 6% will be arranged.

Speaking about the 'Maha Manfaa' financing facility, the CEO of SME Digital, Badruddeen Hassan, said that this is an important step taken to further strengthen the Maldives' fishing industry and expand the role of small businesses, and he hopes that businesses will achieve further progress from products prepared from fish varieties through this financing facility. Furthermore, he stated that this is an important opportunity to increase business productivity and improve product quality, and while many efforts are planned and opportunities are facilitated to develop this industry, it is estimated that this will increase the profits received by Maldivian fishermen and increase fisheries exports. In addition, Badruddeen Hassan said that this scheme will also assist in marketing Maldivian fisheries and fish products in the outside world.

Over the past 2 years, the Ministry of Fisheries and Ocean Resources and SME Digital have jointly provided financial assistance to many parties in the fisheries sector. In this regard, MVR 34.52 million has been approved to advance the reef fishery sector, and financing of MVR 44.99 million has been approved for 35 parties to establish Refrigerated Sea Water (RSW) systems on fishing vessels to sustainably advance the fishing industry.