Government presents budget too late: Auditor General

Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim has said that the government presents the budget to the parliament too late, leaving not enough time for the parliament to comprehensively assess the budget.

In an interview with Sun Online yesterday, Niyaz said that the government presents the budget to the parliament in December every year, which means the parliament has a window of about three weeks to assess it.

He said that this is not enough time for MPs to even assess the budget, much less obtain expert advice.

“We believe that the budget should be presented to parliament latest during the first week of October,” he said.

He said that presently, the budget is passed every year in a rush before the end of December, resulting in budget problems halfway into the year.

Niyaz said that finance should not be obtained from sources other than government revenue for government projects.

“Regardless of the size of the budget, problems will arise if government’s proposed projects are amended to require more money. That money cannot be obtained. This is also a problem,” he said.

He also highlighted the problem of Finance Ministry releasing money that is not included in the budget.

“The law states that expenses can only be made if they are included in the budget. Anyone who releases funds otherwise, is committing a crime. Legal action should be taken against them. The government will not be responsible for that. It is the person’s fault,” he said.

Referring to the financial crisis faced by the country, Niyaz said that the Maldives has two options; one is to reduce expenses, the other is to make efforts to increase income.

“The state is larger than the treasury. This is the problem,” he said.

He said that he does not agree with the government having to obtain loans to pay employees’ salaries.

“Loans should be obtained for capital expenses. These problems can only be solved by reducing recurring expenses,” he said.