Revenue up by 7 percent, budget in surplus for nearly 4 months

State financial records have shown nearly a 6.9 percent increase in government revenue compared to last year, amounting to a total of MVR 12.4 billion this year.

According to the weekly fiscal figures released by the Finance Ministry, the government received MVR 12.4 billion as of Thursday, as opposed to the MVR 11.6 billion during the same period last year.

So far this year, the highest revenue was generated from the Tourism Goods as Service Tax (TGST), which stood at MVR 3.8 million. The government received MVR 3.6 billion during this time last year.

As of this Thursday, the government's revenue from Green Tax was at MVR 617.7 million. This time last year, Green Tax contributed to MVR 361.9 million.

During the same period this year, MVR 10.5 billion was accounted for expenses, in comparison to the MVR 13.2 billion last year. This included MVR 9.7 billion as recurrent expenses and MVR 804.5 million as capital expenses.

However, the expenditure on salaries had not reduced by Thursday. The MVR 3.7 billion spent on salaries and pensions this year was a MVR 400 million increase from last year.

Although the expenditure on salaries increased, the government reduced expenditure in other areas to reduce the overall expenses.

The primary balance of this year's budget is at MVR 1.9 billion in surplus this year, with an overall balance of MVR 3.5 billion in surplus. This was attributed to reduced capital expenses which went down from MVR 3.2 billion to MVR 804 million. Last year, the value was at MVR 1.6 billion in deficit during the same time.