The Parliament's Budget Committee on Thursday approved the proposed budget for 2022, with an additional MVR 73 million added to it.
The Finance Ministry proposed a budget of MVR 36.92 billion for the upcoming year. However, with the addition of MVR 73.8 million, the total budget is now MVR 36.99 billion.
Out of the additional funds added to the budget, MVR 57.4 million will be utilized to carry out Public Sector Investment Program (PSIP) projects in 82 islands. The remaining MVR 16.4 million will be used as the Finance Ministry's special budget, the Parliament, and some independent institutions.
The government expects to receive MVR 24.3 billion as grants, and the committee approved the amount. While the proposed budget estimates an expenditure of MVR 34 billion, the number has been revised to MVR 34.10 billion with the additional funds added into the budget.
The budget allocated for some entities:
The Parliament - MVR 7 million
The Anti-Corruption Commission - MVR 3.9 million
Ombudsperson's Office for Transitional Justice - MVR 2.2 million
Civil Service Commission - MVR 1.69 million
Family Protection Authority - MVR 865,636
Department of Judicial Administration - MVR 500,000
Information Commissioner's Office - MVR 204,000
Ministry of Finance's Special Budget - MVR 73,782
The budget for the upcoming year has a deficit of MVR 9.7 billion, which is 11.1 percent of the GDP. An additional MVR 13.4 billion is needed to finance next year's budget. The amount includes the budget deficit of MVR 9.7 billion, MVR 2.9 billion for loan repayment, MVR 769.2 million transferred to the Sovereign Development Fund, and another MVR 35.7 million that the administration must finance in other ways. The government has planned to secure up to MVR 7.5 billion from foreign parties and MVR 5.9 billion from local parties.
The Budget Committee also decided to review the supplementary budget of MVR 2.2 billion proposed by the Finance Ministry. The supplementary budget was requested as it is likely that the government's expenditure would exceed the MVR 34.9 billion budget allocated for the year up to MVR 37.1 billion.
