The Parliament has approved a budget of MVR 114.4 million for the Auditor General's Office for next year.

The Auditor General's Office budget was approved unanimously by the Finance Committee.

According to the Constitution, the Auditor General's Office must approve the budget before the national budget is submitted to the Parliament.

The Audit Office proposed a budget of MVR 99.5 million for next year. MVR 80.4 million in recurrent and capital expenditure and MVR 19 million for the construction of the new office building in Hulhumalé.

The Audit Office has sought the advice of the Ministry of Finance to prepare the budget, who had advised to reduce the budget for promotions and salary increments,. However, the Finance Committee decided not to reduce the budget.

During the Finance Committee meeting to study the budget, members noted that the Audit Office had previously noted the difficulty in obtaining experienced auditors due to low salaries. Therefore, a salary increase is important and a budget should be passed to strengthen the work of the office.

Members of the Finance Committee proposed a budget of MVR 19 million for the new building to be constructed by the Audit Office in Hulhumalé. This rounds up the total budget to MVR 114 million.