Budget forecast: Revenue of 23.6 bln, expenditure at 33.8 bln

Finance Ministry has published its forecast for next year's revenue and expenses.

The Finance Ministry in its Fiscal Strategy Report for the upcoming year said MVR 23.6 billion is expected as revenue including grant assistance. While the state expects to collect MVR 14. 7billion as taxes, an MVR 2.5 billion revenue is expected to be generated as GST. A revenue of MVR 4.4 billion is expected as TGST.

The report also projected revenue of MVR 528.2 million as Airport Service Charge and MVR 823.3 million as Green Tax. A further MVR 5.3 billion is expected to be received from non-tax categories, and MVR 533.5 million as Airport Development Fee. MVR 1.6 billion is expected as Property Income and a further MVR 2 billion is expected as grants. The report also listed an expected revenue of MVR 1.3 billion through new revenue measures.

The report forecast the state's expenditure at MVR 33.8 billion for 2022. While the state will spend MVR 37 billion from the national budget, the baseline budget expenditure will be MVR 36 billion. The recurrent expenditure is expected to be at MVR 21 billion while capital expenditure will be at MVR 12.5 billion.

The Finance Ministry is currently preparing the budget for 2022. The budget draft will be sent to the Parliament for approval before the end of the month. The total budget for 2022 will likely be similar to this year's total budget figure, between MVR 35 to 37 billion.