Malé, Maldives — The Ministery of Finance of Maldives revealed on Wednesday that the cumulative expenditure of the government has reached MVR 17.8 billion while generating a revenue of only MVR 9.94 billion.
According to the ministry’s weekly fiscal reports, MVR 12.6 billion was spent as recurrent expenditures of the state and MVR 5.5 billion has been utilized for capital expenditures.
The Government of Maldives had estimated a shortfall of approximately USD 450 million (MVR 6.9 billion) in foreign currency and a state deficit of MVR 13 billion in 2020 due to the effect of Covid-19 pandemic of the tourism industry of Maldives earlier.
While the island nation heavily depends on the tourism industry of the country, the international travel restrictions left the country in a vulnerable state as the economy began to fall. The Work Bank had projected in mid-April that Maldives would be among the worst-hit economy in the South Asian region due to the pandemic.
