Public debt is expected to reach MVR31 billion (US$2 billion) or 67 percent of GDP at the end of 2014, Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad has revealed.
“Despite achieving economic progress, the Maldivian economy is fragile and the Maldives’ financial situation is not in the most appropriate state at present,” Jihad cautioned in his budget speech at parliament today.
“The main reason for this is the year on year increase of the budget deficit and the state’s debt because of expenditure being higher than state revenue in recent years,” he explained.
The country’s balance of payments worsened and foreign currency reserves dwindled as a result of both the persisting fiscal deficit as well as outflow of foreign currency, Jihad added.
He noted that the dramatic increase of expenditure on public sector wages, subsidies, and social security programmes was also responsible for the fiscal imbalances.
Expenditure on state employees in 2014 would reach MVR15.8 billion (US$1 billion), Jihad observed, while MVR3.2 billion (US$207 million) would have been spent on subsidies and social security benefits.
Out of every MVR100 collected as revenue or income, Jihad explained that MVR40 was spent on employees and MVR22 on social protection and subsidies.
Consequently, the government was facing serious difficulties in “managing the state’s cash flow and financing the budget” as well as securing loans for budget support, Jihad said.
The budget was mainly financed by selling and rolling over treasury bills (T-bills), he said, which involves repayment at high interest rates.
According to the central bank, the total outstanding stock of government securities was MVR13.6 billion (US$881 million) at the end of September.
“The growth in government securities was contributed by the increase in the amount of T-bills issued by the government to manage its cash flow requirements,” reads the Maldives Monetary Authority’s (MMA) latest monthly economic review.
Targeting subsidies
In May, Jihad continued, the government ceased obtaining funds from the central bank to finance the budget and the inflation rate has remained low as a result.
The government has also decided to freeze hiring new employees in 2015 in favour of conducting training programmes and optimising productivity. The defence minister last week criticised civil servants, saying they were providing “poor service” to the public.
Parliament needed to pass legislation on the state’s wage policy for a lasting solution to discrepancies in pay among state institutions, Jihad suggested.
He also revealed plans to revise the electricity subsidy, which he said currently benefits the affluent more than the needy.
Targeting the electricity subsidy to low-income families or households would save 40 percent of the government’s expenditure on the subsidy, Jihad explained.
The government was also working on revising the Aasandha health insurance programme – expanded by the current government – to ensure sustainability, he added, in addition to plans to target food subsidies in 2015.
In May, MMA Governor Dr Azeema Adam called for “bold decisions” to ensure macroeconomic stability by reducing expenditure – “especially the un-targeted subsidies” – and increasing revenue.
The MMA had previously warned that shortfalls in revenue and overruns in expenditure could jeopardise the country’s debt sustainability.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also recommended targeting subsidies to the poor.
“The electricity subsidy is one that goes to even the richest strata of society. Basic food subsidies are being enjoyed now by the resorts, and never mind the resorts, are being enjoyed by wealthy foreign visitors who stay at the resorts,” Dr Koshy Mathai, resident representative to Sri Lanka and Maldives, told MPs on the public accounts committee in February.
“That to us seems like a totally unnecessary policy.”
He added that “substantial savings” could be made from the budget by targeting subsidies to those most in need of assistance.
Despite the cost-cutting measures, Jihad cautioned today that the government’s recurrent expenditure could not be reduced while people reside in 188 geographically dispersed islands.
Providing services to small populations was difficult and costly, he observed, stressing the importance of formulating and implementing a population consolidation policy.
On plans to tackle the high rate of unemployment, Jihad noted that MVR332 million (US$20 million) was allocated in the 2015 budget for higher education programmes, with special emphasis on training doctors and health sector professionals.
The implementation of the government’s economic policy – with the introduction of special economic zones – would spur job creation and attract foreign investment, he added.
Jihad appealed for support from MPs for the government’s proposed revenue raising measures, warning that public services could be disrupted if anticipated revenue is not realised.
“The estimated budget for 2015 is a budget that lays the foundation to build the future of the current generation and future generations,” he said.
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