The government's MVR 5.1 billion supplementary budget for the year has been referred to the Budget Committee for consideration.

When Finance Minister Moosa Zameer presented the supplementary budget, Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla, who presided over the meeting, said that the rules of the parliament do not have the procedure to proceed with the presentation of a supplementary budget. He, therefore, opened the door for members to propose a set of rules for the implementation of the budget.

Speaking on the occasion, ruling PNC leader Ibrahim Falah proposed that the budget debate be started in the parliament at 1330 hrs today. After giving five minutes to each member in the preliminary debate, the budget should be sent to the committee for review at the end of the debate.

Once the committee reviews the budget within a day and sends it to the House, it will give two minutes to each member to speak on the budget report and pass it in parliament.

Falah's proposal was supported by PNC MP from Baarah constituency Ibrahim Shujau and minority leader Ibrahim Nazil of MDP from Hithadhoo South constituency.

Following this, the debate continued later till evening, and has since concluded. The budget has now been forwarded to the committee for review.

The next session of the Parliament will be held on Monday. The Parliament will decide on the budget after the committee examines the budget and submits its report to the Parliament for approval.