Parliament passes MVR 6.5b supplementary budget

Parliament on Monday approved the supplementary budget of MVR 6.5 billion submitted by the government.

Budget review committee of the parliament on Thursday approved the supplementary budget submitted by the government with an amendment to allocate MVR 6.5 million for broadcasting service providers and media.

In Monday's sitting, 57 MPs voted in favour of approving the budget with the committee recommendation. Ten MPs voted against it.

The parliament had passed a budget of MVR 42.8 billion for this year. However, the total budget is expected to be MVR 49.3 billion by the end of this year.

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu, who took the oath of office on Friday, pledged during his presidential campaign to fund the media from the state budget. Although the finance ministry did not include it in its budget proposal for next year, Muizzu recently asked MDP MPs, who have a clear majority in parliament, to include it at the committee stage.

Supplementary budget in brief: