State Budget to be passed tomorrow

The passing the State Budget for 2016 has been put on the agenda for the Parliament Session tomorrow.

While the Budget has been put on agenda for tomorrow, the contingency budget for the Judiciary has been increased by MVR 20 million and passed by the budget committee last week.

The 2016 State Budget of MVR 27.457 billion presented at the Parliament by the Finance Minister, Abdulla Jihad passed with the vote of 14 members of the budget committee.

Aside from the members of the ruling party PPM on the committee, the budget was voted for by a member of JP.

MVR 9.1 billion has been allocated for Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) projects in the 2016 budget. The MVR 9.1 billion consists of MVR 5.2 billion from the general budget, MVR 2.7 billion foreign loans, and MVR 1.2 billion grants and tourist fund.

The largest portion of the PSIP projects amount would be spent on improving harbours and airports. The total cost of these projects is estimated at MVR 2.6 billion, which includes MVR 783 million for harbour projects in 62 islands.

MVR 1.2 billion has been allocated for land reclamation and road construction projects. Land expansion has been planned in 9 islands, and land reclamation in 19 islands.

Minister of Finance and Treasury Abdulla Jihad has announced that MVR 16.2 billion or 59 percent of the Proposed State Budget for 2016 is recurrent expenditure.

Jihad said that 41 percent has been allocated as capital expenditure, out of which 80 percent would be spent on Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) projects.

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

The deficit is MVR 3.4 billion, which is 6 percent of GDP.