A week after the Mohamed Muizzu administration presented the MVR 56.6 billion National Budget for 2025, the administration continues to withhold details of plans and projects across the country.
While Minister of Finance Moosa Zameer presented the budget to Parliament on 31 October, the summary budget report shared with Parliament on the day lacked several details that had been included in previous years.
Specific allocations which detail spending, including details for projects across islands and new policies launched by the administration, were lacking from the proposed budget — information cells had also been removed.
Similarly, the budget does not reflect the global or local financial situation, nor does it address any potential future challenges.
Meanwhile, printed copies of the budget are unavailable, and the state’s budget website, which traditionally publishes budget details, has been down — it has not been accessible since the budget was presented.
Members of Parliament (MPs) from the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the MDP leadership, and former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, leader of the People’s National Front (PNF), have all expressed concern over the lack of information.
Speaking at a PNF rally held on Thursday, Yameen said details were not included in the budget presented to parliament because administration officials either did not know how to structure a budget or because they were being fraudulent.
“All the MDP members, all the opposition members are saying that there is no detail of this [budget]. And a printed [detailed hardcopy] budget has not been sent to parliament. No details have been provided,” Yameen said.
At the Budget Committee on Monday, MP for Hanimaadhoo, Abdul Gafoor Moosa [MDP], said that the detailed budget had still not been received five days after it was presented and questioned why it was not available.
“On the day the budget was first presented, I met the Ministry of Finance contingent. They showed it to me in print. I will get it very soon, within two or three days, some said. Those two or three days have passed,” MP for South Hithadhoo, Ibrahim Nazil [MDP], also said on Monday.
The former Minister of Finance under the Ibrahim Mohamed Solih administration, Ibrahim Ameer also expressed concern, saying that the 2025 budget was the most secretive budget in the history of the Maldives.
Meanwhile, no official statement has been made regarding the lack of hardcopies, with details, of the proposed budget or about the budget website being down.
