In his weekly radio address, broadcast on Friday, President Nasheed discussed the unsustainable economic policies of previous years.

The President said, “While three to four years ago, the budget stood around 7 to 8 billion rufiyaa, we suddenly saw an inflated 12 billion budget…Back then, the idea would have been to finance the budget through inflows from the 60 newly leased islands for resort development.

“Now we all know the State doesn’t get any revenue from those resorts.”

The expansionary budgets of the recent years coupled with lack of sufficient revenue bases forced the government printing money that resulted in high inflation, the President added.

“The government’s economic and fiscal policy,” he said, “therefore, was based on reducing cash flow and increasing revenue.”

President Nasheed outlined measures for increasing revenue from fisheries and tourism sectors, including mid-market resort development and diversifying and improving fisheries sector.

He said the government had plans to develop fisheries sector products for export.