Parliament approves record-high MVR 64B budget for 2026

The Parliament, on Tuesday, has approved the record MVR 64 million state budget proposed by the government for 2026.

The Finance Ministry submitted a proposed budget of MVR 64.2 billion for 2026 on October 30th– marking the highest annual budget on record. It surpasses this year’s MVR 56.6 billion budget by MVR 5 billion.

The budget was approved in a 74-12 majority vote on Tuesday.

Key budget highlights:

• Budget total: MVR 64.2 billion
• Expenditure: MVR 49.9 billion
• Recurrent expenditure: MVR 39.9 billion

This accounts for 62 percent of total budget. 

• Capital expenditure: MVR 9.3 billion

An increase by 31.7 percent compared to last year. 

• Debt repayment: MVR 12.9 billion
• Revenue and grants: MVR 40.4 billion  

Of this, MVR 31.1 billion is anticipated from tax revenue, MVR 8.7 million from non-tax revenue, and MVR 37.6 million from grant assistance. This is 6.6 percent increased compared to revenue and grants forecasted for this year.

• Budget deficit: MVR 8.8 billion

This accounts for 7.1 percent of GD

The proposal of such a large budget is attributed to the Maldives’ obligation to repay a record amount of debt. In this regard, loan repayments amounting to USD 1.1 billion are due next year alone.

Presenting the budget, Finance Minister Moosa Zameer described next year’s budget as one that will save the Maldivian people from debt.

“It will have the Maldivian people from the huge debt this administration inherited, and will be the cornerstone to realizing President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s vision for development through careful policies without burdening the future generations,” he said, promising to implement measures to restore fiscal and debt sustainability.

He detailed that country’s official reserves had been below USD 591 million when the People’s National Congress (PNC) administration took office in 2023.

He said that the incumbent administration managed to boost official reserves to USD 673.4 million at the end of 2024.

Zameer said that the official reserves currently hold USD 838.6 million, and that they expect to boost this further to USD 903.7 million next year.

He added that the country’s GDP is expected to grow by 5.3 percent.