The government has said it has no intention of cutting salaries despite measures to cut government expenditure.
Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer told at a news conference held Tuesday that the government has decided to take measures to cut expenditure but that it does not intend to cut salaries.
The minister added that with the cost-cutting measures this year, expenditure as a percentage of GDP could be reduced to about 6 percent.
"During COVID-19, we proposed MVR 37 billion. However, we spent MVR 28 billion. Even then, we were able to reduce expenditure," he said.
The minister said recurrent expenditure had been reduced by 22 percent so far this year.
Referring to several statistics, the minister said the country's economy is growing faster than expected. The minister also noted that although there are no tourist arrivals from China, the number of arrivals was on par with the pre-covid numbers from 2019.
Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer
