Male’ , Maldives – The Parliament has passed the 2021 budget submitted by the Ministry of Finance.
The budget was passed with 68 Parliamentary votes, with only one member not voting on the matter.
After amendments from the Parliamentary Budget Committee, the budget for 2021 no stands at MVR 34.9 billion, an increase of MVR 134 million from the original budget.
The Parliamentary Budget Committee also increased the forecasted revenue by MVR 3.2 billion, which has brought down the forecasted budget deficit to MVR 12.3 billion, from the previously projected MVR 15.5 billion.
The Committee has also increased budgets for Public Service Projects (PSP) by an additional MVR 135.2 million, while decreasing domestic office expenses by MVR 209 million.
The parliamentary committee also modified the list of strategies suggested by the finance ministry to increase national income in 2021.
While these changed were passed after discussion with the Ministry of Finance, Finance Minster Ibrahim Ameer has previously said that it is very important for the state budget to be passed 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.
