Malé, Maldives – The overdraft request by government has been sent to committee discussion by the Maldives Parliament.
Speaker of the Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed set the agenda again for the request at the parliamentary hearing today.
A motion set by MP of Alifushi constituency Mohamed Rasheed and supported by MP of Maradhoo constituency Ibrahim Shareef to create a nine member committee to investigate the overdraft request was passed with 51 votes.
Mohamed Nashiz, Chair of Public Accounts Committee of Maldives Parliament and MP for Kinbidhoo Constituency has previously said that a decision has to be made by the parliament regarding the issue by 26 April 2021, 5 days from today, or the Maldives government will go into a shutdown.
The Maldives Parliament approved the suspension of Article 32 (a)(b)(e) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act for a year, ending on 26 April 2021. This would allow for MVR 4.4 billion to be overdrawn from the MMA Public account.
Citing that Maldives has not been able to overcome the negative impact on the economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer, on behalf of the state, requested for the extension of this period to 26 April 2022.
