The government is set propose a record MVR39.6 billion budget for next year, finance ministry revealed Monday.
According to the fiscal strategy for the next three years, the government has budgeted for MVR37 billion as expenditure for next year. The government hopes to maintain the budget deficit at 6.5 percent of GDP while creating a MVR5.5 fiscal space for new development projects next year.
The proposed budget for next year would likely invite more criticism after the new government since taking office nearly a year ago has thus far failed to fully utilize this year's budget despite getting a supplementary budget in August.
An initial budget of MVR 30.2 billion was approved for the current year by the parliament. However, the government in August got the parliament to sign off on an additional MVR1.7 billion as a budget supplement.
The government has come under heavy criticism from the opposition for failing to launch major infrastructure projects this year with the budget reflecting the unused funds for PSIP.
