Maldives parliament on Tuesday passed MVR 42.8 billion as the state budget for 2023.

The government had proposed an MVR 42.6 billion budget, though the Budget Review Committee added MVR 160 million to it, passing the budget at MVR 42.8 billion. The committee added MVR 36.45 million to the office budgets and MVR 124.4 million to the PSIP budget.

During the parliament sitting held today, some lawmakers proposed amendments to the budget submitted by the committee. As such, opposition lawmakers had submitted eight amendments, four of which were submitted by Maavah MP Mohamed Saeed and the remaining four by Naifaru MP Ahmed Shiyam.

However, none of the amendments were passed.

The budget was passed with the votes of 61 members out of 79 present. While 35 votes were required to pass the budget, eight members had voted against passing the budget.

During his presentation of the budget – Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer stated that 2023’s budget is a s a trustable roadmap based on previous experiences. He went on to state that it was a plan that will allow the government to continuously ensure the people’s affluence and social welfare.