- Proposed MVR 60 million as budget
- MVR 46 million will cover all costs
- State to enforce more cost cutting measures
Finance Minister Ahmed Munawwar says the budget for Audit Office for next year is MVR 42 million, a reduction from the proposed budget of MVR 60 million.
Speaking in the Parliament Committee session on next year's budget, Minister said it was expected that next year's budget will be reduced than this year's budget.
Heads of Auditor General's Office were also summoned to the Committee session held last night.
Audit Office had put forward a budget of MVR 59 million. However Auditor General Hassan Ziyath said if the Ministry can release the pledged MVR 42 million in full then all the costs of the Office can be fully covered. He added an extra MVR 13 was listed on the budget to complete some existing projects and as the Office expects to hire additional staff next year.
He said the Office intended to do an audit of Island Councils. After analyzing existing options, Ziyath said the most cost effective way of doing this was outsourcing the effort. He noted the audit of 186 Councils was not completed this year even due to budgetary constraints.
Ziyath added this year, 17 Ministries were audited along with agencies and offices that were listed under those Ministries. He said the issue of manpower was clearly highlighted during these audits, with the number of new employees not expected to increase in both 2018 and 2019. He also noted that Audit Office did not have the budget to train employees. Ziyath said the Office focused on training employees in places that practiced methods used in the country.o
Ziyath further said the number of audit reports since 2014 had increased substantially. He said that so far 135 audit reports had been released this year, with 70 more to be released.
Finance Minister said based on the current state expenses, only MVR 42 million was possible. He also said that auditing Councils was important but the current audit reports had failed to achieve their goals. The Minister requested to increase offsite audits and to ensure more quality reports. He noted the reports fail to elaborate on key details as well as key recommendations as required.
Some of the members had requested a small increment to the budget for the Audit Office. The Committee had passed to consult with Auditor General and Finance Ministry prior to sending a final figure to the Parliament floor.
