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News in Brief Thursday, July 2 Facebook

Twenty months ago, the government doubled cigarette duties, banned vapes and outlawed smoking for everyone born after 2007. The WHO gave President Muizzu an award. TIME named him among the 100 most influential people in health. On Thursday, he ratified a bill making cigarettes half price. The official justification is WHO advice – but no document has been produced, and the WHO declined to answer questions. What the record does show: duty receipts collapsed, smuggled cigarettes now outnumber legal ones, and the government’s own projections expect 27 million more cigarettes to be imported this year. A WHO rate, unseen studies and a U-turn: https://maldivesindependent.com/politics/a-who-rate-unseen-studies-and-a-u-turn-maldives-makes-cigarettes-cheaper-349c Facebook

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News in Brief Wednesday, July 1 Facebook

The Bank of Maldives is offering up to 25 percent returns to customers who invest their dollars. It calls this an investment product. Critics call it something closer to a confession. Run the bank’s own example backwards and the picture changes: invest US$ 1,000, receive MVR 19,275 – an effective MVR 19.28 for every dollar. That isn’t a return. It’s the price the national bank is now willing to pay to buy a dollar, well above the MVR 15.42 peg it is meant to honour and just below the black market rate it is quietly competing with. Is it legal? Is it the parallel market with a bank’s letterhead? And is the Maldives now ready to let the rufiyaa float? We put these questions to former central bank governor Ali Hashim, sifted the government’s response and the public’s fury, and explain what the scheme really does. Read the full explainer:...

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News in Brief Tuesday, June 30 Facebook

What is the actual value of environmental protection if a boundary of a protected area can be moved the moment it becomes inconvenient to developers or politicians? A series of recent boundary changes gazetted by the environment ministry highlights a troubling trend: protected areas are increasingly treated as flexible lines on paper rather than permanent safeguards. The most glaring example is Dhaalu Fushi Kandu. To clear the way for a private company to build a 120-hectare integrated tourist resort, the government simply redrew the map — shifting the protected boundary entirely eastward so it no longer covers the lucrative lagoon slated for development. A similar logic unfolded in the Addu Nature Park UNESCO biosphere reserve, where borders were altered just in time to fast-track a road project ahead of a parliamentary by-election. While regulatory authorities point to new rules meant to tighten safeguards, conservationists warn that creating a legal mechanism...

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