Majlis passes budget of 49.8 billion for 2024

People's Majlis has passed the proposed budget of 2024.

The proposed budget of 2024 was passed during Wednesday's Majlis sitting.

The People's Majlis passed a budget of MVR 49.8 billion for 2024.

As such, MVR 300 million was added to the MVR 49.5 billion budget proposed by the Ministry of Finance.

The budget for 2024 was passed with the votes of 65 parliamentarians.

Former, Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer presented the proposed state budget for 2024 to the parliament, on 14 November 2023.

A total of MVR 49,549,713,738 budget was proposed for the upcoming year, out of which the MVR 47.3 billion was earmarked for expenditure. MVR 306 million was added to the budget during the committee stages.

Among the the budget increases was the addition of MVR 20.5 million to the ministries that were created in compliance with the state's new organizational structure.

Additionally, the recurrent and capital expenditure of the domestic budget of the offices was increased by MVR 57.3 million and MVR 8.9 million was added to the Public Sector Investment Programs (PSIP) budget.

Furthermore, the Attorney General's Office was allocated MVR 10 million for legal work regarding the dispute concerning the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Mauritius and Maldives in the Indian Ocean.

The MVR 400 million to be added to the budget for the Fushidhihgaru lagoon dredging project was removed by the budget committee.

With the MVR 300 million added to the 2024 budget, the overall budget deficit is now estimated to increase from MVR 13.8 billion to MVR 14.07 billion

With the changes brought to the 2024 state budget before it was passed, it is estimated that the total debt of the state per GDP would increase from 114.3 percent to 114.6 percent. There will also be a rise in the overall balance deficit from 12 percent to 12.3 percent of the nominal GDP.

It was projected that the state would receive MVR 33.5 billion in grants and income in 2024.