Saturday
27th Apr 2024
Dhivehi Edition
Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer. Photo: Parliament
The state budget deficit for this year has reached MVR 5.8 billion,.
Based on the estimates of total revenue and grants and the government expenditure for 2022, the budget deficit was estimated at MVR 9,821.9 million.
According to the statistics released by the Ministry of Finance, between the 1st January 2022 and 1st September 2022, the government has spent MVR 24.5 billion, of which MVR 5.8 billion was budgeted deficit. Alternatively, the government had spent MVR 101 million daily, of which MVR 24 million was budget deficit.
The budget deficit at the end of 2021 was at MVR 11 billion.
While the government has previously admitted to this year’s estimated income being unattainable, the government has not been stingy in their expenses throughout the year.
Furthermore, to balance out the budget for the coming year, the government has proposed a bill to the parliament that will essentially raise GST and T-GST rates.
Despite talks of raising state-imposed taxes, the government’s refusal to mitigate its expenditure is astounding. The government's refusal to seize new appointments to political positions and foreign trips sponsored by the state clearly validates the detrimental expense reports.