Finance Minister Ahmed Ameer has said that new expenses will not affect the Maldives foreign exchange reserve and that he is confident that the exchange rate will be maintained.

The Finance Minister said this at Monday night’s sitting during the debate on the committee’s report on the Finance Ministry’s proposed MVR 1.7 billion supplementary budget.

Finance Minister Ameer said the government aims to increase GDP and expand economic projects, which will allow them to maintain the debt at 60%.

Noting that Maldives received a USD 40 million grant from the Saudi Fund and a USD 100 million grant from the Indian government, the Finance Minister said that Maldives has also received a USD 25 million credit facility from the SME Bank to provide loans to small businesses.

He said that the government can still request a USD 200 million currency swap facility as part of the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA)’s USD 400 million currency swap agreement with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which was signed in 2011.

He also said that the current government’s transparent tender process has eliminated the practice of conducting projects at inflated cost, and that the USD 70 million spent on water and sewerage system projects in the previous years has been reduced to MVR 30 million.

He said the main purpose for increasing the state budget is to increase funding for this year’s government projects and to fulfill President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s pledges.