Male’, Maldives – Former President of Maldives and the current Speaker of the Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed says that he does not necessarily have to meet eye to eye with the government.
This statement from Nasheed comes after he criticized the proposed budget for the year 2021, along with many other parliamentary members. Nasheed said that if he was able to vote for the budget, he wouldn’t vote to pass it as it is.
Nasheed commented regarding his statement saying that the opinions of the parliament members and the Speaker does not necessarily have to be the same as the government’s.
“The duty of the Parliament is to check the work of the government and to examine the bills and pass them into laws. Especially to examine the state budget and to pass it.”
Speaker Mohamed Nasheed stated.
Nasheed further said that even if it is an enemy or a friend, the truth should be revealed and that the reason why they have sworn, is to reveal the truth to the country.
In addition to this, Nasheed also said that the debt report sent to the parliament also reveals a lot of truth and that those matters will be spoken in the parliament as well.
It has been several days since the parliament has started discussing about the state budget. While the ministry proposed the state budget as MVR 34.7 Billion for the upcoming year, several members, including the members from the incumbent MDP party has widely criticized the proposed budget.
Speaker Nasheed had previously also noted that he also agrees that the proposed budget for the upcoming year is not good at all. However, Nasheed said that the previous government is to be blamed for this as it is the consequence of their actions and not of the incumbent government.
The Finance Minister of Maldives, Ibrahim Ameer informed during a Parliament meeting that the Maldivian debt is estimated to be MVR 82.8 billion at the end 2021. He said that although the government is doing everything they can to speed up the recovery of Maldives’ economy, a side effect of the current attempts at economic management is an increase in debt.
Despite the unaffordable debt, Minister Ameer recently said during a parliament sitting that it is very important for the State Budget to pass without any changes if the country wishes to recover from the indebted situation it is currently facing. This is why, Minister Ameer personally requested all the Parliamentary members to pass the proposed State Budget as it is.
The latest National Debt Report complied by the parliament showed that the national debt of Maldives has added up to a whopping MVR 172 billion.
