Parliament Speaker and Former President Mohamed Nasheed has forwarded the Maldivian government’s appeal to seek cash flow in order to manage the country’s dropping finances amid the Covid-19 pandemic, for committee review and sought to have it completed by next Thursday.

During Thursday’s online sitting, the speaker had read out the motion to approve MVR 4.2 billion for state expenditure due to the Covid-19 repercussions, to the members present.

Nasheed recommended that all members join the committee review stage to approve the motion.

As such, the motion has been forwarded to the Parliament’s General Committee, which has been requested to complete the review by 30 April.

However, he added that these decisions also require a vote of all parliamentarians.

Article 32 (a) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act notes that the state may only borrow from the central bank on the condition that the repayment is made within 91 days and that withdrawals must be limited to no more than one percent of the average state revenue, based on the revenue collected within the past three years.

In light of this, an overdraft amount currently available through the central bank, MMA is MVR 219 million.

According to the documents attached to the letter addressed to parliament by Minister of Finance, Ibrahim Ameer, the government requires MVR 4.2 billion.

As such the minister has requested the overdraft amount to be changed to MVR 4.2 billion.

Under Article 36 of the act, the People’s Majlis has the authority to approve this request.