15-minute time limit for each MP during 2026 budget debate

Parliament’s General Purpose Committee has approved a 15-minute time limit for each lawmaker during the debate on the proposed state budget for 2026: same as last year.

Lawmakers were granted a 15-minute time limit each during the preliminary debate on the proposed budget for this year and a seven-minute time limit each during the debate on the budget passed by the Public Accounts Committee last year. Meanwhile, 45 minutes was allocated to the Finance Minister to respond to questions.

At Tuesday’s committee meeting, Alifushi MP Abdul Latheef Abdul Rahman proposed to follow the precedent set last year in allocation of time for debate on the budget.

The proposal was approved by the unanimous votes of all lawmakers in attendance.

Finance Minister Moosa Zameer presented the record MVR 64.2 billion budget proposed by the government for 2026 at Thursday’s parliamentary sitting, marking the highest ever budget proposed to date.

It surpasses this year’s budget by MVR 5 billion.

Key budget highlights:

• Budget total: MVR 64.2 billion
• Expenditure: MVR 49.2 billion
• Recurrent expenditure: MVR 39.9 billion
• Capital expenditure: MVR 9.3 billion
• Debt repayment: MVR 12.9 billion
• Revenue and grants: MVR 40.4 billion
• Budget deficit: MVR 8.8 billion (7.1 percent of GDP)

The proposal of such a large budget is attributed to the Maldives’ obligation to repay a record amount of debt. In this regard, loan repayments amounting to USD 1.1 billion are due next year alone.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has recently said that next year’s budget will be focused on strengthening the country’s healthcare system.

While next year’s budget is being promoted as a health budget, this year’s budget had previously been touted by government officials as a “housing-centric budget.”

However, the actual numbers paint a different picture.

Housing is among many plans in this year’s budget that had gone unimplemented. In this regard, while MVR 7.7 billion was allocated in the budget for fiscal reforms, they had gone unimplemented.