Govt in u-turn to publicise 'confidential' cost, debt policy

The government's expenditure, revenue and debt policy, which was previously kept confidential, will be made public, finance minister Dr Mohamed Shafeeq said Wednesday.

The minister told the finance committee of the parliament that the government's debt and fiscal policy will be published on the finance ministry's website and in the government gazette.

The minister said he had no intention of keeping the debt strategy and fiscal strategy confidential. He also said that the people should know the information in detail.

The minister had earlier asked the finance committee to keep the government's expenditure, revenue and debt policy confidential.

The two documents, which the ministry requested to keep confidential under the Public Expenditure Accountability Act, are two statements that the finance ministry is required to share with parliament by the end of July each year. They include:

According to the Act, the purpose of the fiscal strategy is to promote public awareness of expenditure and revenue policy and to provide a means of assessing the measures the government is taking to achieve its policy objectives.

The purpose of the debt strategy is to provide information needed to identify the measures being taken by the government to maintain the public debt on strong principles.

The finance ministry had previously shared the reports with the parliament and published them on the website.