Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer has said that 38% of the funds required for the State Budget 2023 have already been arranged by the administration. He made the remarks speaking at the Parliamentary Budget Committee.
Speaking at the committee, Minister Ameer said the government is working to acquire funds for development projects. As such, the minister said USD266 million has been received in form of loans. These loans are the disbursements for projects awarded under the agreements already signed, also said the minister.
Furthermore, Minister Ameer assured the structural development projects in the islands will continue without interruption. Replying to questions raised by parliamentarians about the debt of the country, the minister detailed the amounts borrowed by previous governments.
A majority of capital expenditure allocated in the budget is proposed for Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) with USD545 million for development projects. As such, the funds allocated for the PSIP is 19.7% of the USD2.8 billion proposed state budget. The USD545 million PSIP budget consists of USD201 million from the domestic budget, USD266 million from foreign loans, USD46 million from foreign grants, and USD29 million from the Green Fund.
Additionally, 204 new PSIP projects will commence next year at a cost of USD31 million, while 311 projects in the tendering stage worth USD34 million are also included, as well as 479 projects in the pre-tendering stage worth USD78 million. A total of 113 completed projects are also included with USD5 million allocated as retention funds.