Finance minister fears spiralling deficit will leave civil servants without pay

Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad has expressed fear that the ballooning budget deficit will affect the government’s ability to pay civil servants.

“We can’t hold on like this for long, we must acknowledge that this is a very serious problem,” Jihad told atoll council leaders in Malé today.

Jihad explained that shortfalls in revenue of MVR1.5 billion would see the deficit increase to MVR4 billion – equal to 10.6 percent of GDP.

“Expenses keep on increasing, even as we don’t receive any revenue. We did not get the expected revenue this year either. Because of this, we are facing great difficulty in managing the budget deficit,” said Jihad.