The Parliamentary General Purpose Committee has approved a motion to request an increase of next year's parliamentary budget by USD 453,000. The proposed state budget for 2022 has allocated USD 12 million for next year's parliamentary budget.
The committee has formulated a proposal report to be submitted to the Parliamentary Budget Committee. Vice-Chairperson of the committee Hassan Shiyam said the Ministry of Finance has approved the items the parliament requested to be included in the state budget. He said the USD 453,000 needed for the new policy initiative has not been approved.
Committee members highlighted the importance of the work to be done under the new policy initiative, which includes broadcasting parliament sittings and events. The members said procuring the necessary resources for committee rooms and the administration of the parliament are also included in the new policy initiative. All members of the committee voted unanimously to propose that next year's parliamentary budget be increased by USD 453,000.
The government has submitted a USD 2.4 billion state budget to the Parliament of the Maldives that includes projects and programmes to fulfill over 90% of government pledges. The parliament has scheduled to begin the debates on the budget committee report on December 22 and pass the proposed state budget before the end of December.