General Purpose Committee approves 15 minutes per MP for Budget 2027 debate

The General Purpose Committee of the Parliament on Monday approved giving each member 15 minutes to debate the budget.

Last year, each member was also given 15 minutes to debate the budget. The Budget Study Committee was allocated seven minutes to debate the budget report, while the Finance Minister was given 45 minutes to answer questions from members.

The motion by PNC MP Ibrahim Didi was passed unanimously by the members present in the committee.

The government has proposed a budget of MVR 59.7 billion for next year. This is about MVR 4.5 billion less than the record MVR 64.2 billion budget approved for this year.

Despite the decline in the total budget, recurrent expenditure has increased.

The budget estimates recurrent expenditure at MVR 42.7 billion next year, an increase of MVR 0.2 billion compared to the MVR 42.5 billion forecast for the current year. Recurrent expenditure stood at MVR 37.4 billion last year.

The health sector has the largest allocation next year, with MVR 10.2 billion assigned to the sector.