The government has received 19 proposals to arrange funds needed to cover the state’s expenditures but no further information about the proposals could be shared, the Finance Ministry has said.
The Finance Ministry said this in response to a right to information (RTI) request from Adhadhu about the government’s announcement seeking parties to provide USD 550 million (MVR 8.4 billion) to manage expenditure.
In the RTI request, Adhadhu asked for the number of proposals received since June in response to the announcement seeking financing to plug the deficit.
Adhadhu also asked for the number of proposals without disclosing identities, the types of proposed financing, the amount of money proposed, maturity or repayment periods, and decisions made about the proposals or their current status.
Despite sharing the number of proposals in its reply, the Finance Ministry did not disclose any other information requested about the proposals.
The Finance Ministry did not respond to a question asked to clarify the amount of money involved in the proposals. When Adhadhu asked for the information to be provided after redacting identities, the ministry said it could not be disclosed in order to protect the financial interests of the state and of the parties that submitted the proposals.
“As the financial interests of the state and the interests of the parties that submitted the proposals would be adversely affected if the information is disclosed, we are unable to disclose that information,” the ministry said.
Adhadhu also sought to clarify plans for financing the budget outside of the Finance Ministry’s announcement. In response to this question, the Finance Ministry gave a casual answer that did not provide any relevant information.
“The 2024 budget deficit is planned to be financed through the domestic market, international financial institutions, bilateral parties and discussions are underway to obtaining financing in a manner that would not adversely affect the debt sustainability analysis (DSA),” the ministry said.
The government’s refusal to disclose budget financing proposals comes despite the Finance Ministry’s announcement stating that one of the reasons for seeking financing through a public announcement was to take on debt in an open and transparent process.
Similarly, if the government decides to accept such proposals and obtain funds throughout the year, both the Finance Ministry’s previous announcement and the DSA stated that it would be announced.
As the Finance Ministry has not revealed any such information to date, it must be assumed that financing has not been secured so far.
The government needs MVR 16.3 billion to manage expenditure in the MVR 49.5 billion budget approved for this year, including MVR 8.8 billion needed to plug the deficit, MVR 5.2 billion for interest payments and MVR 2.2 billion for repaying the principal amounts.
According to the “Annual Borrowing Plan” published by the Finance Ministry, MVR 3.9 billion will be raised from the domestic market and MVR 12.3 billion will be raised from foreign parties, including governments and investors.
