The parliament’s budget committee is to complete its work related to the proposed State Budget 2021, by Thursday.

The committee will present a report to the parliament floor after completing its review of the budget.

The deadline for the work was proposed by Deputy Committee Chair, Alifushi constituency MP Mohamed Rasheed Hussain at meeting held on Saturday. It was passed unanimously.

Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer presented the MVR 34.7 billion budget to parliament last Monday.

He had highlighted that state expenditure is expected to reach MVR 33.3 billion while MVR 1.5 billion of the proposed budget is to be allocated for debt repayment. The projected total revenue is MVR 17.8 billion.

Noting that the proposed budget for 2021 is lower than the MVR 37.5 billion proposed for this year, the minister stressed that the reduced revenue will increase budget deficit. He said that they estimate a deficit of MVR 15.5 billion, which is 23.4 percent of the GDP.

While there are 27 members in the current budget committee, parliamentary regulations state the committee comprises of its public accounts and economic affairs committees.

The People's Majlis passed MVR 37.9 billion as a state budget for 2020, but was revised due to the significant reduction in revenue generated by the state following the Covid-19 pandemic, to MVR 31.8 billion.