Parliament dismisses bill calling to submit debt report

The amendment to the Public Finance Act calls to submit to Parliament a debt report prepared by the Ministry of Finance and the Treasury before greenlighting further loans have been kicked out.

The bill was dismissed with 41  voting for it. Only five members voted to accept the bill.

This bill was submitted by Parliamentarian from opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Mahibadhoo MP Ahmed Thoriq. The aim of it was to understand the economic impacts on Maldives from the Russia-Ukraine ahead of time and prepare of it.

Moreover, the bill said the government should only take loans or provide sovereign guarantees after the Finance Ministry studies the possible impacts on the economy and state finances and reports it.

 Additionally, it asked to ensure that such loans are only taken for expenses such as necessary infrastructure projects and initiatives to increase state finances.

Furthermore, as per it, the advice of Governer of Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) also needed to be taken into account prior to making a decision.

The bill mandated a vote to be taken before allowing to take such debts.

Statistics released by the Finance Ministry show the state reserve’s balance was USD 829 million in April. The balance was USD 604 million in November 2019, before the pandemic. The figure had risen to USD 1.02 billion in September 2021.