
Parliament asked to clarify reserve figures
MP Adam Shareef requested the chair to ensure that the reserves are available and that cards can be imported.
Maduvvari MP Adam Shareef has filed a motion in the parliament to ensure that the country has enough financial resources to import staple food, medicine and fuel for the people and to clarify the extent of the country's foreign reserves.
At the start of Tuesday's session, Speaker Mohamed Nasheed announced that he had received a letter from Adam Shareef.
Requesting the chair to ensure that the reserves are available and that cards can be imported, he wrote:
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With the presentation of next year's budget and the supplementary budget for the year, the government has been hit hard by its own operational expenditure and budget deficit for the last four years, along with endemic corruption within the government and the lack of accountability of the state's finances
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A large section of the public has expressed concern over the government's failure to disclose the most accurate information on the country's financial situation
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There are concerns that the government's debt is rising from one year to the next and that the country does not have enough financial space to import basic goods, cards and fuel
Highlighting these issues, he asked the centre to clarify that there is a fiscal space to import staple food, medicine and fuel by next year. He also asked the centre to ensure that the country's foreign reserves at the end of last month are made available before the budget is passed.
Stating that he had received the letter, Nasheed said he was aware of the amount in the reserves. He added that the figures could be passed on to the MP if they wanted to.
"I know the figures. Therefore, the honourable member can ask me. Otherwise, as the honourable member has requested, he can write a letter again to the governor of MMA and then give the amount to the honourable member. Otherwise, the same honourable member can be told how to calculate usable reserves from gross reserves. Gross reserves are publicly published information," Nasheed said.