Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has said on Wednesday that there are major challenges in managing this year's annual State Budget despite pubic accounts being highly favourable in the first quarter of the year due to the current government's austerity measures.
Speaking at yesterday's meeting of the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, MMA's Deputy Governor Ahmed Imad stated that state revenue had increased beyond the projected value, with approximately MVR 2 billion having been saved from state expenses.
However, he said, the government is still being run with expenses being higher than revenue.
Parliament has passed a budget of MVR 49.8 billion for this year. While the estimate for revenue to be generated is set at MVR 33.5 billion, this is a deficit budget of MVR 16.3 billion.
"We always highlight concerns that every year, we are unable to obtain free aid and revenue to the levels projected in the budget. This year, too, there are major challenges in fulfilling the budget," Imad said.
Responding to questions posed by MPs, Imad revealed that in the past three months, USD 580 million has been held as Gross Reserve as oer MMA regulations.
He believes that by the end of the year, this amount can be maintained at around USD 600 million.
However, Imad highlighted that there are major challenges in maintaining dollar liquidity. He estimates that around USD 50 million needs to be acquired monthly beyond foreign currency revenue.
"There are major challenges in expenses, in conducting transactions that require foreign currency," he said.
When an MP asked Imad about rumours that Maldives had agreed to IMF's package, Imad responded that he had not received any information regarding that in an official capacity.
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