Pres. says former administration did not leave behind “usable” budget

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has asserted that the former administration did not leave behind a “usable” budget.

Speaking to the community of Maduvvari island of Raa atoll on Wednesday afternoon, Muizzu said that the reason he was unable to fulfill the promises he made to the island was because the budget passed by the former administration was “not usable”.

He said that the previous government did not hand over a budget that the current administration could use.

During his visit to the island, more than a year into his presidential term, Muizzu said there had been "a slight delay" in delivering on his promises.

While Muizzu has faced criticism from many for the lack of any development projects in the past year, he said this was due to "having to do many things to solve the major problems in the country's economy."

While many development projects in islands across the country are at a standstill, Muizzu has repeatedly stated that this is due to how the previous government prepared the budget.

Muizzu has said this at a time his government has submitted a supplementary budget to the People’s Majlis and increased the previously approved budget for 2024 after it was depleted.

On the other hand, critics point out that the Greater Malé Project, which the government initiated and carried out in 2024, was a project that had been completely removed from that year's budget.

The MVR 49.8 billion budget approved for 2024 included funding for all ongoing projects from former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's government for that year, as well as allocations for new projects planned to begin. However, with none of these works progressing, the government claimed that expenses could not be met from the proposed budget and submitted a MVR 5.1 billion supplementary budget to the People’s Majlis, which was passed towards the end of November last year.

With Muizzu having control of the super majority in the People's Majlis, allowing any changes to be made to the budget as desired by the government, the supplementary budget submitted to the parliament was approved, bringing the total budget for the past year to a record amount of approximately MVR 55 billion.

While Muizzu said that project work did not progress in order to stabilize the country's economy, the number of tourists visiting the Maldives has also reached a record high.

Without revealing any details of expenditures from the state budget, Finance Minister Moosa Zameer stated when submitting the supplementary budget to the parliament that MVR 38 billion had been spent by the end of September 2024.

Zameer then said that 76 percent of the nearly MVR 50 billion budget approved for 2024 had been spent by the end of October, and that the supplementary budget was submitted before that budget was exhausted.

According to the latest figures released by the Ministry of Finance, out of the budgeted MVR 54.9 billion at the end of last year, MVR 52.6 billion has been spent. It has also been stated that MVR 34.7 billion was received as revenue.

Speaking to the island residents, Muizzu once again assured that he would fulfill the promises he made to the island's residents during the election.