Auditor General Raises Alarm Over MVR 7 Billion Government Debt With No Budget Provision

Auditor General Hassan Niyazee has said that the government and government companies owe MVR 7 billion to various parties, but there is no provision in next year's budget for how to pay that money. Speaking at a budget review committee meeting held in the People's Majlis yesterday, Niyazee said the MVR 7 billion that the government must pay includes money that must be given to government companies, as well as the share that must be given to private parties. His concern, he said, is that even in next year's budget, that money is not included for payment. "We clarified what the way is in which it is arranged to pay that money. Those honourable members said it is not included in the budget. Therefore, you honourable members [from the Majlis] must clarify a way in which it is arranged to pay that money," Niyazee said. The Auditor General also raised a question regarding whether the expenses of the final quarter of this year, when brought into next year's budget, will fit within next year's budget. Niyazee said that because the government does not pay money for services obtained from private parties, it is affecting tax revenue. He said that the money the state must receive as tax has reached MVR 22 billion. "The difficulties faced in the issue of the government not paying money for bills that must be paid to various parties, which MIRA notes as a reason the money not being received in this way keeps increasing," Niyazee said. Earlier this month, the Ministry of Finance opened for submission a way to write off from taxes owed to MIRA the amounts of parties who have long not received money from the government. Under that policy, if the tax money a business must pay to MIRA is greater than the money the government must pay to that party, after deducting the tax money from the money the government must pay, the remaining amount must be paid by that party to MIRA as tax. If the tax money that must be paid to MIRA is less than the money the government must pay to that party, after deducting the money the government must pay from the money that must be paid as tax, the government will pay the remaining amount to that party. A large part of the money the government must pay to private parties is for bills that must be paid to private parties by Fenaka. The government has now stopped Fenaka's work and transferred that company's works to STELCO.