The Government is to put forth a supplementary budget with just two months left in the year.
Speaking in a press conference held by ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) MPs, PG Deputy Leader Riyaz Rasheed they had passed to file a supplementary budget to Parliament, sometime next week.
‘We expect the Government will file the supplementary budget next week. We expect that it had been received. If that’s the case, we plan to put it on the formal agenda,’ Riyaz said.
Riyaz said they had floated the idea of a supplementary budget in July as well. He added that along with the supplementary budget, next year’s budget will be sent to the Parliament as well.
Finance Ministry reported that they were preparing to submit the budget to Parliament before October 31st.
This year, the budget was at MVR 26.8 billion. The budget deficit is expected to run to MVR 303.7 million which translates to 1.7 percent of the GDP.
At the time of filing the supplementary budget, seven Members of Parliament had been removed from their seats. While the Elections Commission (EC) had said by-elections will be held for these seven constituencies, Finance Ministry had not granted the budget for these elections. Laws dictate that an MP must be elected within 60 days after a seat becomes vacant. EC is yet unable to hold these elections.
