Next year’s budget estimated at MVR 41 billion

The Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer stated that the state’s annual budget for the year 2023 is estimated at MVR 41 billion.

Speaking at a news conference held at the President’s Office on Thursday, Minister Ameer said that the ministry has begun the compilation of a budget for the next year and that the current fiscal strategies estimate the budget to be at MVR 41.5 billion.

Ameer said that the ministry’s goal was to present a budget in line with the fiscal strategies. While they intend to present a budget of MVR 41.5 billion, Ameer said that the estimated budget may become an overestimate or an underestimate depending on the policy level discussions.

Minister Ameer stated that the state is expected to earn an income of over MVR 30 billion and they expect to earn MVR 24.9 billion by the end of this year.

The minister said that the economic state of Maldives was better than previously projected, however, it was still in a transient stage. He said the the number of tourist visits are similar to the number of visitors prior to Covid-19 and they expect a tourism influx of 1.6 million visitors for the next year.