The Parliament's Public Finance Committee has today approved a budget of MVR 134.2 million for the Audit Office for the year 2026, maintaining the original amount requested by the Audit Office despite the Finance Minister's proposal for a reduction.

According to the Constitution, the Audit Office budget is approved separately and prior to the state budget.

The Audit Office had submitted a budget request of MVR 134.2 million for the coming year to the Public Finance Committee yesterday.

In today's committee meeting, information from a letter sent by the Finance Minister regarding the budget was shared by the administrative desk.

In that letter, the Finance Minister had requested a reduction of MVR 9.2 million from various areas, including overtime pay, travel expenses, office supplies, training programs, maintenance, and capital expenditures.

However, the committee approved the full MVR 134.2 million budget as proposed by the Audit Office, following a motion by Funadhoo constituency member Mohamed Mamdooh, seconded by Fuvahmulah North constituency member Hamad Abdullah.

This approved budget includes MVR 89 million for recurrent expenditures, MVR 3 million for capital expenditures, and MVR 41.5 million included in the PSIP for the Audit Office's new building.