Over half of 2023’s Aasandha budget already exhausted

Over 60 percent of the annual budget for the state health insurance service, Aasandha, has already been spent by the end of Q1, according to records released by Finance Ministry.

The weekly fiscal development report released by Finance Ministry shows that over MVR 600 million has been spent on Aasandha as of March 30. This is more than half the MVR 1 billion budgeted for Aasandha this year.

The figure is a 45 percent increase compared to the same period last year. MVR 345 million was spent on Aasandha during Q1 2022.

The actual spending had exceeded the budgeted amount last year as well. MVR 730 million had been budgeted for 2022, but the actual spending had risen to MVR 1.6 billion by the end of the year.

The high spending on Aasandha comes after the World Bank recently advised the Maldivian government to reduce subsidies and expenditure in order to improve the economy. The financial institute advised that fiscal consolidation is necessary to keep debt repayment at a sustainable level.