Individual liquor licenses will not be renewed, says Economic Ministry
03 Mar 2010, 10:06 PM
The Ministry of Economic Development will not renew individual liquor permits, according to State Minister Adhil Saleem, and new regulations governing the sale of alcohol will still apply minus the controversial clause permitting the sale of alcohol on inhabited islands.
The Ministry will continue to honour existing licenses until they expired, Adhil said.
“They were issued in increments of six months to a year,” he explained. “After that there will be no access to liquor on any inhabited island in the Maldives, be it by expats, resort staff, or whoever.”
The exception, he confirmed, were UN staff and diplomats who were governed by international conventions, making “the Maldives and Saudi Arabia the only countries effectively banning the availability of liquor for non-Muslims.”
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