State budget expenditure has declined by 22 percent this year compared to the same period last year.
According to the Finance Ministry's Weekly Fiscal Development Report, MVR 15.6 billion was utilised from the state budget as of 5 June. Of this, recurrent expenditure accounted for MVR 14.1 billion. The figure stood at MVR 14.7 billion during the same period last year.
Recurrent expenditure on employee salaries, allowances and pensions increased this year compared to last year. The expenditure on salaries, allowances and pensions stood at MVR 6 billion this year as against MVR 5.5 billion in the same period last year. However, administrative and operational expenses dropped from MVR 9 billion to MVR 8 billion.
Additionally, capital expenditure also declined, totaling MVR 1.4 billion so far this year, compared to MVR 5.2 billion in the same period last year. According to statistics, expenditure on Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) projects also declined this year. While 1.4 billion has been spent on PSIP projects this year, the amount was MVR 4.7 billion during the same period last year.