The allocated state budget for Aasandha, the national healthcare insurance program, has been fully depleted.
This year's budget for Aasandha was set at MVR 1.04 billion, but as reported by the Finance Ministry, a total of MVR 1.11 billion has already been expended, surpassing last year's expenditure by MVR 185 million. The government spent MVR 924.8 million on Aasandha during the corresponding period last year.
The Aasandha budget reached its limit around the same time last year as well. Initially set at MVR 730.9 million, the budget for 2022 was subsequently expanded by MVR 906.7 million through a supplementary budget proposal, increasing the total budget to MVR 1.6 billion. Despite this increase, the expenses for Aasandha escalated to MVR 1.8 billion by the end of the year.
Financial institutions such as the World Bank are advising the Maldives government to cut spending on Aasandha and subsidies.
