Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer has said that joint ventures formed with the government wish to purchase government shares.
Speaking at the Parliament's Economic Committee, Minister Ameer said that while there are 45 JVs formed with the government, there are difficulties in selling shares in companies formed to develop tourism.
"Many of these 45 companies want to buy government shares. Most of them are five percent JVs. The laws do not allow them to buy shares. The formulas in the latest amendment to the Tourism Act make prices higher than even the market rates, making this an extremely difficult process," Ameer said.
"We proposed an amendment to the Tourism Act to bring about a change [through the law]," he added.
The minister said some agreements that allow some joint ventures to exchange their shares free of charge had been signed.
Finance Ministry's Legal Head Ashraf Ahmed said the JVs with the government are not profitable to the government in any way. He said he was of the opinion that it was best to sell these shares. He said the shares make it difficult for foreign investors to invest. The shares have also hindered the efforts to resume the operation of some tourism resorts.
