COVID-19 expenditure rises by 2.5 percent

Records released by Finance Ministry show government expenditure on COVID-19 rose by 2.5 percent last week.

According to the weekly updates on COVID-19 expenditure, the government spent MVR 1.6 billion on health and social sector by the end of May 13.

The greatest expenditure in health and social sector was registered by Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH). IGMH spent MVR 41.3 million more than any other State institution, the bulk of which was on supplies and requisites for service provision which included medical consumables. Total spending by IGMH now stands at MVR 143.6 million.

The weekly updates on COVID-19 expenditure shows the government spent MVR 1.7 billion on the economic response by the end of May 13 – presenting no changes from the week before.

Total COVID-19 related spending now stands at MVR 3.3 billion.

Looking at individual institutions, the greatest expenditure overall, after National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), was registered by Health Ministry. Health Ministry spent MVR 496.4 million, MVR 274 million of which was travel expenses, MVR 33.9 million of which was on providing allowances to employees, and MVR 80.5 million of which was on procuring capital equipment.

MVR 67.6 million was spent by Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF), MVR 48.5 million of which was on providing allowances.

Meanwhile, Maldives Police Service spent MVR 31.1 million, MVR 27.4 million of which was on allowances.

As Maldives faces its worst COVID-19 surge to date, authorities are working on increasing the capacity of the health sector to treat patients. This is expected to result in an increase in expenditure in the days to come.