Parliamentary Committee Unanimously Votes In Favor Of Extending Government’s Financial Overdraft Period

In yesterday’s Majilis sitting, a temporary parliamentary committee was set up to review the Government’s request extend the period granted for a financial overdraft to cover the expenses of the government by a year citing that the country’s economy has still not recovered from the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.  

As the deadline for the overdraft as initially issued is Monday, April 26, the committee had worked with a deadline to finish reviewing the issue completely by the end of Wednesday. 
During their probe into the matter, officials from the Ministry, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and Auditor’s General’s Office were summoned for the committee for the consultation.  

After five meetings held in the course of Wednesday night, the committee had come to the unanimous decision to approve the request. In the report published regarding the matter, the committee noted that when granted the request last year, the Ministry had managed the cash flow so that the overdraw limit does not exceed MVR 4.4 billion – as granted.  

However, during consultations the central bank warned that exceeding MVR 4.4 billion will result in irrevocable losses to the economy, forcing changes to the foreign exchange rate, and raise inflation rate.  

A decision regarding the report of the committee shall be made on the parliament floor where the final verdict would be come to.