The government has spent half a billion more than the amount budgeted for food and electricity subsidies and the Aasandha health insurance scheme, the Finance Ministry's statistics have shown.
According to the 'Weekly Fiscal Development' report published last week, MVR 301.2 million and MVR 237.3 million have been spent in excess of the budget allocated respectively for Aasandha and subsidies.
Other budget items with extra spending:
- Investment outlays - MVR 228.4 million over budget
- Domestic lending to state-owned companies - MVR 209.7 million over budget
The main reason for Aasandha and subsidy spending exceeding the budget allocations was the government's failure to implement cost-cutting measures as previously planned. Targeting fuel subsidies and reducing costs for Aasandha and prescriptions were included in this year's budget.
At the time, the Finance Ministry estimated savings of over MVR 1 billion from oil subsidies, MVR 460 million from Aasandha, MVR 150 million from electricity subsidies and MVR 166 million from medical consumables.
