Government rejects budget decrease rumours

Minister of Finance Abdulla Jihad has rejected reports that the government has proposed to the parliament, to reduce the proposed State Budget for 2014 to MVR 17.5 billion.

Jihad told Sun Online today that the reports, claiming that the government has proposed to reduce the budget to MVR 17.5 billion after the Budget Committee passed to increase it to MVR 18 billion, are false.

The media groups that reported this cited a member of the Budget Committee as their source.

Pro-government MPs have said that the budget should be large enough to accommodate the campaign pledges of President Yameen Abdul Gayoom.