Ministry of Finance has disbursed the revenue generated from atoll shops during 2016 and 2017 to the respective atoll councils.
Atoll shops were established with public shares to facilitate means to generate revenue to the atolls for development projects. However, before the current administration took office, atoll councils had not received any revenue from atoll shops since 2014.
Upon assuming office in 2018, the current administration began disbursing revenue from atoll shops to the respective atoll councils as part of efforts to financially empower local councils. As such, the administration had disbursed the atoll shop revenue from 2014 and 2015 to the atoll councils, before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a halt to the disbursement of revenue from subsequent years to the councils.
On December 22, the finance ministry announced the atoll shop revenue from 2016 and 2017 have now been disbursed to the respective atoll councils. As such, USD 1.16 million were disbursed for 2016 and another USD 1.33 million for 2017.
The administration has implemented several policy changes over the last few years to empower local councils and strengthen decentralisation. As such, important amendments have been brought to the Decentralisation Act, expanding the jurisdiction and responsibilities of councils and granting more authorities to the councils.