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Nasheed presides over a parliament sitting. (Photo/Parliament)

Parliament asks govt to resubmit supplementary budget with missing details

Speaker Mohamed Nasheed sent a letter to the ministry Tuesday requesting the ministry to resubmit the budget with all the details required by the law.

25 October 2023

Parliament on Tuesday asked the government to resubmit the supplementary budget with the details required by law, as did not include the details required in the Public Finance Act, the parliament secretariat said Wednesday.

The government submitted a supplementary budget of MVR 6.5 billion to parliament on last Wednesday. The budget was on the agenda on Tuesday but the sitting could not proceed due to lack of quorum.

It was omitted from the agenda of Wednesday's sitting.

Parliament Communications Director Hassan Ziyau told Atoll Times the finance ministry had already been asked to include the details as required by the law. However, the ministry sent the budget without all the details for a second time as well, he added.

Speaker Mohamed Nasheed sent a letter to the ministry Tuesday requesting the ministry to resubmit the budget with all the details required by the law, Ziyau said. 

Supplementary budget in brief:

  • Increase in subsidies - MVR 1.8 billion

  • Increase in Aasandha health insurance - MVR 1.2 billion

  • Projects - MVR 1.7 billion

Meanwhile, the Democrats, led by Nasheed, on Tuesday said the supplementary budget was prepared illegally because it lacked details.

In a letter to Nasheed, The Democrats’ Parliamentary Group leader, Central Henveiru MP Ali Azim said:

  • The supplementary budget has been prepared and submitted not in accordance with the provisions of the Public Finance Act and relevant regulations

  • The supplementary budget does not provide details of the expenditure incurred by the state in the last financial year and the revenue earned by the state

  • The details of the programmes to be funded by the special budget under the housing ministry as well as the finance ministry, which constitute a large portion of the expenditure allocated in the supplementary budget, are not clearly known. 

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