The Mohamed Muizzu administration will present a Supplementary Budget to Parliament, valued at around MVR 5 billion, to manage expenditure through to the end of the year, Minister of Finance Moosa Zameer has confirmed.
Zameer, speaking with reporters on Saturday, said that the exact figure would be determined after Cabinet consultations prior to submission for Parliamentary consideration.
The Parliament-approved National Budget for the year 2024 was valued at MVR 49.8 billion. Should the Supplementary Budget be passed, it could increase the state’s total expenditure for the year to MVR 54.8 billion.
The Supplementary Budget would cover an expenditure shortfall, as some projects had exceeded the amounts which had been originally budgeted for, the Minister explained, adding that state debt this year will be lower than previously forecast due to austerity measures put in place by the administration to reduce state spending.
Attorney General Ahmed Usham, meanwhile, highlighted to the press that the previous administration, led by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), had presented a supplementary budget every year of their term — a term that covered the entire pandemic period.
MDP’s passage of the Supplementary Budget was, however, extra-constitutional and in contravention of the law, as it was passed after the expenditure had already been undertaken, Usham claimed, emphasising that expenditure should reflect what was budgeted and not the other way around.
