The Parliament of the Maldives has approved the proposal to conduct a financial audit of the expenses undertaken by the state to overcome the COVID-19 crisis.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Eva Abdulla submitted the proposal as an amendment to the motion submitted by Parliamentarian Ali Azim to review the economic recovery plan of the government and to check whether state expenditure during the COVID-19 crisis is undertaken in accordance to the Public Finance Act. The report prepared by the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts was passed with the amendment proposed by the deputy speaker, with votes from 63 parliamentarians.
The proposal states a financial audit must be conducted on COVID-19 related expenditures and grants on a quarterly basis. The proposal states the audit report of the COVID-19 related expenditure undertaken by the state until now must be submitted to the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts by the Auditor General’s Office within 45 days, while quarterly audit reports must be completed within one month after the end of every quarter.
The parliament has been reviewing the economic recovery plan of the government to overcome the financial and economic impact of COVID-19. Parliamentary committees have submitted over 300 recommendations to the government on implementing the economic recovery plan.