Malé, Maldives — The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has informed that the total revenue has increased by 24% in March 2021 compared to the same period last year.
MMA has revealed that the total revenue without including the grants have increased by 24% in March 2021 compared to March 2020. This is MVR 335.7 million.
According to MMA, the increase in revenue is due to the increase in both non-tax and tax revenue with the non-tax revenue increased by MVR 203.4 million and tax revenue increased by MVR 126.7 million.
On the other hand, the total expenditure (excluding amortisation) in March 2021 has increased MVR 206.3 million compared to March 2020. The 8% increase in expenditure is seen due to the substantial increase in capital expenditure with an increase of MVR 278.8 million. The recurrent expenditure showed a decline of MVR 72.5 million during the same period.
The latest available data of MMA showed that the stock of total government debt has increased by 3% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. This amounted upto MVR 68.3 billion without including the government’s guaranteed debt.
However, MMA mentioned that the total government debt as a percentage of GDP decreased to 103% at the end of the first quarter of 2021 from 115% during the fourth quarter of 2020.
MMA stated that the increase in government debt during the given time period was primarily driven by the domestic debt in the country.
