Parliament's Budget Committee has approved the MVR 1.7 billion supplementary budget proposed by the government.
During the committee meeting held late Sunday, a vote was taken on the document submitted by Finance Ministry. In this regard, a vote was taken to decide whether the grant assistance should be increased to MVR 716.8 million and to approve MVR 1.7 million as the total supplementary budget. All members were unanimous in their decision to approve the budget.
The government has stated that the main reason a supplementary budget has been requested is due to expenditure exceeding forecast budget in fulfilling the government's pledges for the first 100 days of administration, and due to the increase in expenditure after new laws came into effect.
In the proposed budget, MVR 300 million was allocated for Higher Education, MVR 309 million for Health, MVR 15.8 million for Planning, MVR 94.5 million for Education and MVR 925.9 million for Finance.
Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed has made the decision to conclude all work on the budget and approve it during Monday night's parliamentary sitting. While the committee has now approved the budget, it will be debated on the parliament floor on Monday. Each member will be granted seven minutes to debate on the matter.
