Audit Office request of MVR 134 million budget approved

Parliament has passed the MVR 134 million budget submitted by the Auditor General (AG) Office for next year.

After the budget was deliberated upon by the Public Accounts Committee, they agreed to approve the budget without bringing any changes. The vote passed on the Parliament floor with 51 in favor after the committee submitted their report.

Audit Office will see a MVR 20 million budget increase compared to this year.

According to the Audit Office, the increase is mainly due to plans to hire senior auditors for several departments currently without department heads. Their budget for this year is MVR 114 million. 

The committee’s vice-chair, PNC member and Eydhafushi MP Ahmed Saleem, said that Parliament’s approval of the budget submitted by the Audit Office as is reflects the government’s commitment to strengthening the office. 

"The government finds it important that their offices are audited effectively. This is the first time an administration has placed this much importance onto the Audit Office," said Saleem.

The office said it operates 22 departments and seven units, many of which lack senior auditors. The additional funding will allow for the recruitment of qualified staff to strengthen oversight and audit capacity.

"The Public Sector Investment Program (PSIP) component of the budget totals MVR 41.5 million has been allocated for the Public Sector Investment Program (PSIP) component of the budget for next year. The office has spent MVR 65.68 million as of September this year. At the rate we are going, we estimate our project will finish by March next year," as was said by the Audit Office.

PSIP allocations include MVR 35 million owed to MTCC under an ongoing project and MVR 6.5 million for furnishing the new Audit Office building.

The office plans to conduct 81 audits next year, including financial, compliance, and performance audits. This includes nine special audits and eight audits focused on assessing the government’s fiscal position.