Parliament passes massive state budget for 2020

The Parliament has passed the massive budget of MVR 37.8 billion for 2020.

The budget which was proposed by the government initially was MVR 37.5 billion, however, the budget saw an injection of MVR 366 million during the Committee stage. The budget passed included the additional MVR 366 million.

The budget was passed with the support of 77 MPs. Only two MPs voted against the budget.

The government presented the budget to the Parliament on November 4, 2019. Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer asked the parliament to pass the “perfect” budget as it was presented to turn the hopes of the citizens into reality when presenting the budget to the Parliament.

The budget is mostly comprised of PSIP projects and funds for additional projects were also included in the bill and will have a deficit of MVR 5.68 billion.

The budget will also include MVR 1.6 billion in block grants for councils.

The change would see an increase of 148.6 percent to island councils, 155.1 percent for atoll councils, 433.4 percent for city councils when compared with the budget of 2019. A recommendation to the Finance Ministry to monitor the budgets of these councils was also made by the Committee.