Maldives' COVID-19 expenditure passes MVR 1b

COVID-19 expenditure by the Maldives has passed the MVR 1 billion mark, with the majority of the funds going to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Health Ministry.

A report by the Finance Ministry stated that MVR 13.2 million was spent on equipment to be sent to various islands of the country. They include testing machinery and equipment.

Transport expenditure by the NDMA increased to MVR 14.6 million last week, which is an increase of 13.3 percent when compared with the week before.

More than MVR 665.9 million was spent by the NDMA while the Health Ministry spent MVR 162.6 million.

The majority of the expenses were spent on equipment sourcing and providing services. The total expenditure for these purposes is accounted for as MVR 478.7 million. MVR 194.7 million was spent on capital equipment.

The government also spent MVR 114.7 million on subsidies while MVR 74.3 million was spent on operational works.

Other expenses incurred are MVR 59.9 million for construction work and MVR 18.7 million for transport.

The government has so far released MVR 10.1 million to 2,507 individuals as income support while loans totaling MVR 339.7 billion were issued by BML and MVR 118.5 million by the SDFC have also been issued.