A USD12 million budget for the Parliament has been proposed for 2024.
The General Purpose Committee held a meeting to discuss next year's parliamentary budget. The estimated budget for next year is more than the USD11.8 million budget approved for this year.
Speaking at the committee meeting, the Head of Administration at the Parliament Ahmed Faiz Mohamed said the main reason for the increase in next year's budget is the addition of new members in Parliament. As such, 93 seats have been allocated for the next parliamentary election in 2024, which is an increase of six seats. Faiz added that the proposed parliamentary budget has been sent to the Ministry of Finance for approval.
Also at the committee, Parliamentarian Ilyas Labeeb proposed to increase the salaries of the employees working at the Parliament. Other parliamentarians approved of the proposal, noting that the salaries of the parliamentary staff have remained the same for 11 years. The committee agreed to formulate and submit a report on the cost of increasing the salaries of the employees.