The government has paid MVR 462 million out of the MVR 3.9 billion issued by the Central Bank -- the Monetary Authority of Maldives (MMA) by December last year.
According to the MMA's Statement of Financial Position for January this year, the MMA disbursed MVR 3.9 billion to the government by the end of last year. As of the end of January, the figure had dropped to MVR 3.4 billion.
The Maldives' economy faced a dire downturn when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in 2020. As a result, the state budget was severely constrained. The Finance Ministry asked Parliament to make an overdraft of the money as more than MVR 4 billion was needed immediately to run the state.
The government facilitated the overdraft by having the Parliament suspend specific articles of the Fiscal Responsibility Act in April 2020. The duration of suspension of some provisions of the Act was later extended. The extension, requested by the government, now expires by the end of this year.
