Speaking to Haveeru, Jihad said the budget can only be revised after review by the Finance Committee of the Parliament. He added that he can only partake in the committee’s discussions after obtaining approval from the Parliament for his minister’s nomination. “We must revise the budget. The decision to revise the budget was made to harmonize the state revenue with expenditure. However, the level of cut back on expenditure can only be made after discussions in the committee,” Minister added. Jihad also said that approximately MVR2 billion is expected to be short from the originally anticipated state revenue. “When the budget was approved it was predicted that the state would earn MVR11 billion in revenue. However, now it is expected to be down to MVR9 billion. One reason is the Telecom GST was not received and the amount that was expected from resort rent had not come to pass,” Minister explained. Jihad stressed that the expenditure needs to be brought down to the same level as state revenue. “Otherwise we would have to sell treasury bills to counter the shortage. This cannot be sustained as the debt is already very high,” Minister said. Finance Minister said that as soon as Parliament grants approval he would submit the budget for revision with consultation of the Finance Committee.