The parliament, on Thursday, passed a state budget of MVR 37.8 billion for 2020.
A total of 77 MPs voted for the budget after the parliament's Budget Committee added MVR 366 million to the MVR 37.5 billion budget initially proposed by the Ministry of Finance on November 5.
In order to finance the increased budget, the government has decided to sell T-bills worth MVR 929 million. Additionally, the state will also sell a samurai bond of USD 300 million to Japan. So far, the government has sold three billion T-bills in 2019.
As per projections, the government will receive MVR 30 billion as income in 2020 while total expenditure will reach MVR 37 billion.
Government revenue is divided into five categories, out of which tax will make the greatest contribution at MVR 17.8 billion or 48 percent. Non-tax income will consist of MVR 6.8 billion while foreign aid accounts for MVR 5.2 billion.
The largest portion of expenditure in the upcoming year will be dedicated to recurrent costs at 59 percent or MVR 22.2 billion. A total of MVR 10 billion is allocated for Public Service Investment Programmes (PSIP) while MVR 5 million is designated for capital costs.