The Governor of Maldives Monetary Authority MMA has sent its outlook on the 2023 Supplementary Budget to the Parliament.
The outlook, signed by the governor of MMA Ali Hashim, said that looking at the experience of the past year, the country did not receive foreign aid as it had anticipated. It said that the 2023 Budget has included an additional MVR 4.2 billion from foreign donors and that there are many hurdles to cross before the country receives such an amount.
MMA noted that the state reserve has taken a considerable hit this year and is lower than in 2022.
It further said that it was important to get this MVR 4.2 billion in order to maintain the state reserve and continue operating the government.
MMA said that the total budget for 2023 would rack up to MVR 49.4 billion with the initial MVR 42.8 billion annual budget and the supplementary budget of MVR 6.5 billion.
It said that instead of submitting a supplementary budget, it would be prudent for the government to look after its finances from the revenue generated.
The Central Bank recommended that a supplementary budget should not be submitted unless the country faces an extraordinary economic situation and called on the government to further strengthen its budget oversight role to avoid resorting to a supplementary budget.
MMA said that since the country did not receive foreign aid as anticipated, it had depended on domestic markets and PBA overdrafts to arrange government finances. It further said that treasury security market trends show that, the amount of treasury securities being sold has reduced and did not meet the predicted sale.
