Maldives minister quits over tourism resorts plan

Maldives Tourism Minister Mahmoud Shaugee said on Sunday he had resigned from the government over plans to lease more than 30 new resorts to make up for a $180 million budget shortfall.

"The submission of my resignation is now official. I submitted it on 3 July," Shaugee told Reuters.

"My intention today is not to challenge the government, but we have differences of opinion -- on policy issues."

It was not immediately clear if President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom had accepted the resignation, which follows that of Finance Minister Gasim Ibrahim on Thursday.

Shaugee's resignation follows the government's decision earlier this month to lease 31 new resorts to bridge a $180 million shortfall in revenues.

The funds had been expected to be generated by a privately funded investment in a new trans-shipment port on the popular tourism destination, but the project has been postponed with no start date fixed.

The new round of resort leases had not figured in the Tourism Ministry's 2007-2011 masterplan and would have been carried out "without any planning," Shaugee said.

Shaugee is the sixth minister to leave the cabinet in the past 18 months.

On Thursday, finance minister Ibrahim quit, a day after an auditor's report revealed the 2008 state budget faced a deficit of 4.4 billion rufiyaa ($344 million).

The International Monetary Fund early this month warned the Maldives government to cut its "extraordinarily high level" of expenditure on state wages and subsidies and increase revenue collection or face possible high inflation.

($1 = 12.8 Maldivian Rufiyaa)

Source: in.reuters.com

Maldives finance minister quits over budget criticism

Maldives Finance Minister Gasim Ibrahim resigned on Thursday after an independent auditor general criticised the country's budget.

Gasim confirmed his resignation to Reuters.

"I don't think I should be [in the minister post]," Gasim said, declining to comment further.

His resignation comes a day after a report by the Auditor General and the Financial Committee of parliament revealed the 2008 state budget faces a deficit of 4.4 billion rufiyaa ($344 million).

In his first report since being appointed the country's first independent Auditor General, Ibrahim Naeem also said the budget failed to meet some basic accounting principles.

Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom had rejected the report at a news conference on Thursday before Gasim's resignation.

"The auditor general's report does not have to be accepted by everyone," Gayoom said.

The International Monetary Fund last week warned the Maldives government to cut its "extraordinarily" high expenditure on state wages and subsidies and increase revenue collection or face possible high inflation.

The IMF said the 2008 budget posed risks to the Indian Ocean island nation's macroeconomic stability due to inadequate revenue and high government spending.

"The budget envisages overall expenditures of near 70 percent of GDP, an extraordinarily high level historically and internationally," the IMF said.

However, after the last week's IMF warning, Gasim told journalists there was no deficit.

Gasim is the fifth minister to leave the cabinet in the past eighteen months. ($1 = 12.8 Maldivian Rufiyaa) (Writing by Shihar Aneez; Editing by David Fox)

Source: http://in.reuters.com