The Parliament has scheduled to begin its debate on the proposed State Budget for 2023.
Vice Speaker of the Parliament MP Eva Abdullah who chaired today's parliamentary session said that the debate on the proposed budget is scheduled to continue for the next three days.
She said that during the next three days, the parliamentary sessions would continue from 09:00 am to 10:00 pm. She further said that the debate would continue even after Thursday if it is not wrapped by then.
She then requested the MPs to let the Secretariate know of their decision to join the Budget debate as soon as they can.
The Government proposed a State budget of MVR 42.68 million for next year, as it looks to regain the economic momentum from pre-COVID years.
The budget was submitted to the parliament by Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer last week.
It has a deficit of MVR 8.46 billion.
Finance Ministry said that with this budget the government had tried to minimize the financial risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. It said that the budget aims to maintain the sustainability of fiscality and debt management.
The Ministry had estimated that the government would get MVR 32.1 billion through income and aid. While it forecasts an annual income of MVR 29.62 billion next year, the Ministry expects MVR 2.48 billion as aid and grants.
It said that next year, the Maldives would enjoy an economic growth of 7.6 percent. It further said that this was higher than the average economic rate of the country in the last 10 years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
