2025 state budget passed in silence, accountability and transparency ignored

Led by the government’s supermajority, the People’s Majlis has passed the state budget for 2025 without any details or provisions for accountability in its implementation.

The estimated budget for the year 2025 was submitted to the People’s Majlis on October 31. The budget proposed for the coming year totals MVR 56,647,600,859.

It was passed on Wednesday, as proposed by the government.

Seventy lawmakers voted to pass the record-high budget as requested by the government and 11 lawmakers voted against. The expenditure is capped at MVR 49.2 billion, including MVR 35.9 billion as recurrent expenditure and MVR 13.3 billion as capital expenditure. MVR 12.4 billion has been earmarked for the Public Sector Investment Program (PSIP) in next year's budget.

It is estimated that MVR 39.7 billion will be received as revenue and grants in 2025, and a deficit budget of MVR 9.4 billion is being proposed for the coming year.

While the record-high budget has been greenlighted, it does not include which projects the government will implement next year. The Majlis has advised the government to submit a list of projects it will carry out and complete before February 2025, after expenditure begins.

In addition to this, the parliament has advised the government to submit a list of ongoing projects that will continue and those that will be discontinued from previously signed projects before March 2025. Such advice from the parliament is not binding on the government.

As the state budget for the upcoming year does not include details of government-funded projects, unlike previous years, both pro-government lawmakers and opposition lawmakers voiced concern during the budget debate.

Lawmakers specifically emphasized that the public is extremely disappointed as many ongoing government projects across outlying islands have been halted and no new projects have been started, even after passing a supplementary budget when this year's large budget was exhausted.

The Budget Committee initially proposed that the government submit project details and provide updates to the parliament every three months throughout the year. However, a proposal by MP for Manadhoo constituency Husnee Mubarik from the ruling People's National Congress (PNC) to remove this requirement was passed with 68 votes. Eleven members voted in favor. Therefore, the budget was passed without requiring the government to submit updates to parliament on how the budget is spent on projects.