The opposition party said the Privatisation and Corporatisation Board (PCB) directive requiring each state-owned enterprise to cut 33 percent of its workforce would cause severe disruption across the country.

Speaking at a press conference today, former MDP chairperson Fayyaz Ismail said that if every SOE proceeds with the cuts under the government’s “rightsizing” policy, a total of 14,733 people will lose their jobs. He estimated that around 50,000 people, including the workers’ dependents, would be directly affected, and that up to 25 percent of the population would feel the adverse economic impact.

“They call it rightsizing, but 33 percent, that’s 14,733 people, when you look at the numbers, it is throwing them out onto the street,” Fayyaz said. “At the very least, 50,000 people’s livelihoods are tied to this. And this concerns the food and shelter of 20 to 25 percent of the population.”

Fayyaz also questioned whether the PCB had examined why the companies became “wrong-sized” in the first place. He said authorities need to look into who was responsible for the staff bloat, and that if the fault lay with those running the companies, action should first be taken against them. “If it is the fault of the people running them, those people should be removed first before cutting the staff,” he said.

Fayyaz recalled that even during the difficult days of Covid-19, the previous administration worked to protect jobs, providing assistance to 22,945 people whose incomes had stopped and rolling out a 4.19 billion rufiyaa programme to prop up the economy.

Also speaking at the press conference, former MP Hassan Latheef said the layoffs were being carried out without any operational audit or study. Rather than setting an arbitrary percentage, he said the number of staff required for each company’s mandate should be determined properly.

“When the previous government ended, there were roughly 30,000 employees across the SOEs. There are now 44,645, and cutting 33 percent brings the figure down to 29,913,” Hassan Latheef said. He added that MDP’s legal committee is working on behalf of the affected employees, that 65 cases are currently being reviewed, and that 37 of them have already been filed in court.

A PCB circular issued on April 18 states that the 33 percent reduction is being made under a policy of aligning company headcounts with what is appropriate for each enterprise. All state-owned companies have been instructed to meet the target within three months starting from July 13. MDP, however, alleges the decision has been taken without any clear framework and could push many Maldivian families into hardship.