Budget debate to continue until 6:00 p.m.

The parliament has passed to continue its debate on the Projected State Budget for 2016 until 6:00 p.m. today.

This was passed with the unanimous vote of the 28 MPs present at the sitting this morning. Each MP will be given 15 minutes in the first phase of the debate.

The proposition to continue the debate until 6:00 p.m. was made by Speaker Abdulla Maseeh. After it was passed, he announced that each MP would be given seven minutes in the debate after the committee report is presented.

The total amount for the 2016 budget is MVR 27.457 billion, of which MVR 16.2 is recurrent expenditure and 41 percent is capital expenditure.

Projected revenue and grants stands at MVR 22.8 billion, which consists of MVR 16.8 billion as tax income, MVR 3.7 billion as non-tax income, MVR 1.5 billion as grants, and MVR 4 billion from proposed projects.