Budget debate to continue until everyone given chance to speak

People’s Majlis voted that the debate on projected State budget for 2017 would continue until all 26 lawmakers present this Tuesday were provided their allotted time to speak.

The debate started on Monday with lawmakers continuing with the work until 11 pm.

25 of the 26 lawmakers present during Tuesday’s sitting voted to continue with the debate until all the lawmakers present were provided their allotted time to speak.

This Tuesday is the last day of the initial round of debate on the budget.

Each lawmaker will be allowed 15 minutes of talk time during the initial round of debate, and seven minutes each during the last round.

The government has submitted a projected State budget of MVR 26 billion, which is MVR 1 billion less than the projected budget of 2016.

The government has proposed a cut in recurrent expenditure and an increase in income generators – including additional taxes and increase in import duty on certain items such as tobacco.