Parliament passes supplementary budget of MVR 493 as proposed

The supplementary budget for this year has been passed by the Parliament as proposed by the Government.

MVR 493 million was proposed as supplementary budget for this year by Finance Minister on Tuesday.

The budget was passed with the votes of 39 MPs. No MP had voted against the proposed budget and most of opposition MPs had not attended sitting.

When presenting the budget Finance Minister had admitted that the state did not receive around MVR 500 million, anticipated as earnings from Special Economic Zone (SEZ) projects. The Minister attributed this to the turbulent political climate, which had barred fruitful discussions with investors. Expressing his concern over this, adding that economic difficulties will rise if there are no investors coming in.

The items in the budget, Minister Munawwar said, were plans. He stressed on the need for unity and collaboration to achieve these plans.

Out of the MVR 493 million proposed as supplementary budget, MVR 330 million had been allotted to NSPA and Aasandha. MVR 26 million had been set aside to conduct byelections for seven Constituencies.

With the supplementary budget, this year’s budget has hit a high of MVR 27.3 billion.

The budget had also made an allocation of MVR 268 million to increase revenue sources. It had also proposed revisions to revenue stamp laws.

Based on current earnings, the state is expected to generate MVR 20.8 billion and spend about MVR 22.5 billion.