The Ministry of Finance has resubmitted the state’s supplementary budget to parliament after details provided in the first and second submissions were deemed not comprehensive enough by the legislative body. The MVR 6.5 billion supplementary budget was first sent to parliament on 18 October.
A ministry official, speaking to local media, said that a more detailed budget had been sent back to parliament on Wednesday, although details have not yet been released to the public.
“As soon as the supplementary budget is received by the parliament, we check to see if the requirements are met,” Communications Director at the Parliament, Hassan Ziyau was quoted as saying by local media.
Debate on the supplementary budget was scheduled for Monday’s sessions. However, proceedings were suspended due to lack of quorum and the agenda item was removed the following day.
The Democrats said on Monday that the supplementary budget had legal irregularities and was missing key details. Member of Parliament (MP) for the Medhu Henveiru constituency, and Leader of the Parliamentary Group for The Democrats, Ali Azim, in a letter to Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, had requested that debates on the budget be blocked unless it had been sufficiently amended.