The Maldives parliament passed the proposed State Budget for 2017 on Thursday.
The budget was passed with a majority of 60 votes in favour, while 15 members voted against the budget from total 75 members present.
Though several amendments were proposed by the opposing Maldivian Democratic Party, Jumhoory Party and Adhaalath Party, none of them was approved. Hence the budget was passed as it was approved by the budget review committee.
The 2017 State Budget of MVR 26.8 million proposed to the parliament on Tuesday projects a revenue of MVR 21.9 billion, with MVR 14.1 billion from taxes, MVR 4.8 billion from other income, MVR 878 million from free financial aid and MVR 2 billion from proposed revenue generating projects. Meanwhile, next year’s deficit is estimated to be MVR 303.7 million, which is five percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).