A subsidy that is 50 percent more than the budgeted amount has been given, with subsidy expenses rising to MVR 4.3 billion this year as of yet.
Statistics from the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises show that MVR 4.3 billion has been spent this year for subsidies. The budget for subsidies in 2026 is MVR 2.8 billion.
Indirect subsidy expenses from the state include electricity, food stuff, fuel, transport, sewerage and controlling fish prices.
MVR 4.9 billion was spent for subsidies in 2025, which had a budget of MVR 1.9 billion. Such a low amount was allocated in 2025 due to subsidy reforms that targeted the budget. Nevertheless, the government decided later on to not make such a change.
An expense of MVR 1 billion was set for fuel subsidies in 2026. However, due to the war in the Middle East increasing fuel prices across the globe exponentially, fuel expenses have risen as well.
This is one of the reasons subsidy expenses were so high.
The biggest reduction to state subsidy expenses was to the transportation industry, which has fallen to 73 percent in 2026. MVR 918 million was set aside for the transportation subsidy in 2025, with the amount for 2026 being MVR 250 million.
While the transportation subsidy has fallen substantially, other subsidies have seen a total increase of 324 percent in the budget. While MVR 1 billion was set aside in the budget for other subsidies without any specific inclusions, last year saw the budget set aside MVR 247 million for such expenses.
MVR 730 million was set in the 2026 budget for electricity subsidy, which is around a 45 percent increase compared to 2025. The food stuff subsidy has a budget of MVR 344 million this year, which is a 25 percent reduction compared to last year. There is an MVR 62 million reduction in the budgeted amount for controlling fish prices in 2026. The budget set MVR 280 million for controlling fish prices.
The sewerage subsidy has an additional MVR 35 million from the total budget for this year, on top of the MVR 135 million that has been set aside.
