MVR 4 million budgeted for Solih's trip to Qatar to watch World Cup Semi Finals

TMJ has learned that the government allocated a budget of MVR 4 million for President Solih's ongoing trip to Qatar to watch the World Cup Semi-Final matches.

A large delegation, including President Solih and First Lady Fazna, along with other government officials, their secretaries, and security, arrived in Qatar on Monday. According to the government, the president took his ticket on his own during the visit. But that, too, seems to be untrue. The government claimed that this was an official visit and hence, a sitting president would not have to bear the expenses of an official trip.

A budget of MVR 4 million was been allocated for the entire trip and all those who traveled with the president traveled by business class and first class. Each individual ticket cost up to USD 10,000.

While President Solih and a government delegation are in Qatar to watch the World Cup matches, the leaders of many world cup-playing nations also did not turn up to watch the tournament. When asked about the purpose of President Solih visit to Qatar even though the Maldives is not a playing country in the tournament, the government had earlier said that the visit would further strengthen the relations between the Maldives and Qatar.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has travelled around the world since assuming office and the only two continents he has not visited while in the office are South America and Australia. He has travelled to countries on all other continents. In an earlier interview, he said that he is extremely fond of travelling.

The government has exhausted MVR 200 million allocated as travel budget for the current fiscal year and the government is spending on this trip from the funds in the supplementary budget.