The Maldives Parliament has commenced the debate on the proposed budget for the upcoming year.
Beginning Tuesday's Parliament sitting, Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla said the General Committee of Parliament has decided to allot 15 minutes to each member for the budget debate. The discussion will run until 10:30 a.m. today and continue tomorrow, allowing members time to review the budget materials distributed earlier today, Abdul Raheem added.
The Finance Ministry has proposed a budget of MVR 56.6 billion for next year. Presenting the budget on October 31, Finance Minister Moosa Zameer said the budget expenditure would be MVR 49.2 billion, of which MVR 35.9 billion would be recurrent expenditure, and MVR13.3 billion capital expenditure. In addition, MVR 3.9 billion has been allocated to repay the government debt. The government has also allocated MVR 3.2 billion for loan issuance, including MVR 1 billion for housing loans at five percent interest.
The government is expected to receive MVR 39.8 billion in revenue and grants next year. Therefore, the proposed budget is a deficit budget of MVR 9.4 billion.
