Budget request to be submitted to Majlis late this month

Minister of Finance Abdullah Jihad has said that government budget for the upcoming fiscal year would be submitted to the People’s Majlis towards the end of this November.

The Minister said that government revenues are not expected to increase the next year, meaning that the budget would be the same as this year.

Speaking to Sun Online today, the Minister confirmed that government ministries have already sent budget statements for the next year, and that the Ministry of Finance is currently holding discussions with political stakeholders about the budget.

The Minister said that considering the amount of money to be raised next year from foreign aid and borrowing, the next year’s budget would be smaller than this year’s.

“We cannot propose a larger budget for the next year. We are trying to decrease the budget compared to this year, but it will depend on the decisions of political sides. We definitely cannot increase the budget for the next year”, said the Minister.

The Minister also said that special care would be taken to decrease government expenditure for the next year.

“Details about the budget would be finalized after the discussions with political stakeholders. Currently we are holding a process of finalizing the budget after discussions”, said the Minister.

The budget for this year was set initially at MVR 14 billion, and it had to be raised to MVR 18 billion, causing a deficit of some 3.4 billion. While it has been estimated that the budget deficit would hit a staggering 27 per cent, the International Monetary Fund has expressed concern over the issue of budget deficit in the Maldives.