Block grants for local councils to be increased to MVR 2 billion

Ministry of Finance has advised Parliament to increase the block grants allocated to local councils in next year's budget.

In a letter to Parliament, the ministry said that MVR 700 million had been allocated for block grants to councils from the contingency budget. The budget, which was submitted to Parliament last week, initially included MVR 1.4 billion for local councils. With the later addition of MVR 700 million, the total now stands at MVR 2.1 billion.