The Maldivian Parliament has passed a supplementary budget of USD 32 million, as proposed by the government. The supplementary budget was passed unanimously with 39 votes.
A huge amount of the budget was allocated for the health sector, to prevent any interruption to the services provided, including health insurance. In this regard, USD 19 million was allocated for health insurance and USD 1.95 million allocated to obtain health related equipment.
Furthermore, USD 1.69 million was allocated to hold parliament by-elections, USD 2.6 million for the operation of Kaadehdhoo Airport, USD 3 million to commence school digitalisation project and USD 3.25 million was allocated as other state expenses in the supplementary budget.
Chair of the parliament budget committee Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik stated that a supplementary budget was proposed to ensure the services provided by the government are not interrupted. The opposition parliamentarians boycotted the sitting to pass the supplementary budget. With the supplementary budget, state budget for 2017 amounts to USD 1.78 billion.