Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer has stated that even with the COVID-19 crisis, this government’s debt is lower than the debt taken under former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom’s administration.
During the Parliament sitting today, Maduvvari constituency member Adam Shareef questioned Ameer about how the GST was being take  from the general public during today’s session of Parliament. Adam Shareef had questioned the government’s decision to raise the GST amount rather than lower its expenses.
In response, the minister said that the ministry had also given a report to the parliament outlining how they planned to boost recurring spending from the years 2023 to 2025. Ameer added that new policies have been implemented to raise government revenue.
Ameer had also mentioned that the COVID-19 situation had drastically reduced the government’s earnings. He had stressed that the administration had continued all development programs that had been prudently initiated, despite the COVID-19 issue. Ameer added that the salary of the government employees had not been altered either. Ameer had, however, claimed that loans from several countries were used to finance everything.
Ameer went on to say that despite the crisis, the present administration had only borrowed MVR 37 billion, compared to the previous administration’s MVR 39 billion borrowed over a five-year period.
By the end of this year, the present administration’s debt is anticipated to surpass MVR 39 million. 90% of the free assistance that the current administration was supposed to receive has not been given to them either.
World bank had also expressed its concerns over the government increasing the GST rate while not reducing it’s expenses.