Committee meeting on state’s expenses and debt to be held behind closed doors

Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has decided to hold the meeting to discuss matters related to the state’s expenses and debt behind closed doors.

The Committee made the decision in response to a request from Finance Ministry.

During a meeting held on Tuesday, the Committee’s Chairperson, Maamigili MP Qasim Ibrahim revealed that the Committee had received three documents related to the state’s finances from the Finance Ministry.

He detailed that the Ministry had requested confidentiality with respect to the Medium-Term Fiscal Strategy 2024-2026 and the state’s debt management strategy.

Qasim said despite the request, the documents will be declared confidential if the Committee deems is necessary.

Baarah MP Ibrahim Shujau supported declaring the requested documents confidential and proposed the same. The proposal was backed by the Committee’s Vice Chairperson, Eydhafushi MP Ahmed Saleem.

Eight members were in attendance at the meeting. Initially, only four members voted in favor of declaring the two documents confidential. During the second round of voting, five members voted in favor of declaring the two documents confidential.

Financial statements shared with the Public Accounts Committee by the Finance Ministry are usually publicized. Such statements have also been publicized on the Finance Ministry’s website since 2018.