While President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih recently introduced a new regulation allowing six months paid maternity leave, he has said that the government will be spending MVR 30 million on the program.

He said this during his first TV interview since assuming office in November, and added that the decision was made “after extensive research.”

Noting that there are at least 16,300 female employees in civil service, the president said that around 1,000 of them take maternity leave per year.

Hence, he said that as per these statistics, giving six months maternity and one-month paternity leave will cost the government MVR 30 million per year.

Solih said that this is included in the state budget.

President Solih announced his government’s decision to grant six months paid maternity leave at a function to mark this year’s women’s day.

“This is an important policy, even if there are some challenges to the state. [We] can maintain this,” the president said.