Minister of Economic Development, Fayyaz Ismail has estimated that a minimum wage will be decided by early 2020.

At the panel discussion during the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s Pre-Congress Workshop on Friday night, Fayyaz stated that if the People’s Majlis wants to, a minimum wage may be settled “even now”.

However, there are a lot of things required to be done, investigated and looked into before a minimum wage can be decided, said Fayyaz.

Assuring that investigations are underway in cooperation with the International Labor Organization, Fayyaz said that they will be analyzing whether or not to set alternative minimum wages to different sectors.

Earlier, the ministry had revealed that they will provide Minister Fayyaz with the necessary information required to set a minimum wage, by December and that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s Salaries and Wages Advisory Board is compiling statistics from several institutions, currently.

Establishing a minimum wage is included in the government’s pledges. While the President established the Salaries and Wages Advisory Board to advise him after carrying out broad consultations and research, MDP drafted the bill with a minimum wage of MVR 200 per day during a workshop in January.