Male’, Maldives – The expenses towards the national health care scheme of Maldives, Aasandha, has reportedly risen above MVR 900 Million ($58.4 Million) this year.
In the weekly fiscal report of the Ministry of Finance, it was revealed that as of 29th October, expenditures of MVR 906.9 million have been made towards Aasandha, which is a decrease from last year’s 913.2 Million spent in the same period. The 2020 Aasandha budget is set at MVR 950.8 Million.
The decrease in Aasandha expenditure can be attributed to fewer overseas medical trips as international travel has only just started to resume after months of restrictions, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
As per the report, this expense is included in the MVR 21,713.4 million the Maldivian government has spent between 1st January, 2020 and 29th October 2020, which is nearly double the amount that that which the government received as revenue and grants.
The main expenses being recurrent expenditure, coupled with substantial expenses going to salaries and wages, and allowances of employees as well as to to the COVID-19 response, has caused the Maldivian government, like many other governments around the globe, to fall into massive debt.
