Islamic Ministry Gets Lowest Budget Allocation in Maldives' Proposed 2027 State Budget

Official figures released by the Ministry of Finance have revealed that the Ministry of Islamic Affairs received the least amount of funding in the proposed state budget for the upcoming year 2027. The detailed figures, which show how the state budget is distributed among various ministries and sectors, have been submitted to the People's Majlis by the Ministry of Finance. According to these figures, the government has prepared the budget for the upcoming year with a greater focus on repaying state debt and economic expenditures compared to certain religious and social sectors. The budget allocated for the Islamic Ministry, which is at the bottom of the list, has been set at only 578.0 million rufiyaa. In contrast, it has been planned to spend 6279 million rufiyaa on the education sector and 5067 million rufiyaa on the housing sector. Compared to all these sectors, the budget for the Islamic Ministry is relatively very small. However, comparing the budgets of the past year 2025 and this year, the expenditure for the Islamic sector next year has increased. Specifically, while 439 million rufiyaa was allocated to this ministry in 2025, this figure has decreased to 421 million rufiyaa this year. Although the total amount of the state budget has decreased for this year compared to last year, the government has approved a budget of 59.7 billion rufiyaa for next year, anticipating that expenditures and deficits will increase. The budget presented to the Majlis by Finance Minister Hassan Zareer is an amount lower by 4.5 billion rufiyaa than the 64.2 billion rufiyaa of this year. However, government expenditures next year are expected to reach 52.6 billion rufiyaa. This is an increase of 3.3 billion rufiyaa compared to this year. The government states that most of the additional expenditure is going towards development projects.