Govt. submits MVR 49.5bn budget for 2024

Finance Ministry has submitted a proposed state budget of MVR 49.5 billion for the next year to the Parliament for approval.

Finance Ministry states that it submitted the budget, along with details required under the Public Finance Act, on Monday.

The ministry said it will share additional information, along with the budget statement, with the Parliament, as well as the press and the general public.

The submission of the 2024 budget comes after the Finance Ministry proposed a supplementary budget of MVR 6.5 billion for this year, last week.

The supplementary budget includes an additional MVR 3.1 billion for recurrent expenditure and MVR 3.3 billion for capital expenditure.

With the MVR 6.5 billion supplementary budget, the state budget for 2023 will rise to MVR 49.3 billion.

However, with the current turmoil within the Parliament, the work on the budget, as well as all other work, has remained stymied.

President-elect Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has stated he wants next year’s state budget capped at MVR 49 billion, adding that his top priority is to ensure the budget falls in line with standards acceptable to international financial and credit rating agencies, and to reduce the debt to GDP ratio.

However, the incoming administration, which will take office on November 17, has little real say in next year’s budget.