Finance minister presents record MVR24.3 billion state budget to parliament
04 Nov 2014, 3:03 PM
Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad submitted an estimated 2015 state budget of MVR24.3 billion (US$1.5 billion) for parliamentary approval today – 35 percent higher than this year’s record MVR17.96 billion (US$1.16 billion) budget.
“The estimated budget deficit for 2015 is MVR1.3 billion [US$84 million],” Jihad said in his budget speech at today’s sitting of parliament.
“This is 2.5 percent of GDP. The deficit is to be financed by MVR1.1 billion [US$71 million] estimated from foreign parties and MVR223 million [US$14 million] estimated from domestic finance.”
After expressing fears in August that the deficit for this year would spiral to MVR4 billion – or 10 percent of GDP, Jihad told MPs today that the 2014 deficit was expected to be just MVR1.6 billion (US$103 million) as a result of compromises by parliament to the government’s revenue raising measures.
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