The Minister of Finance and Planning, Moosa Zameer, has assured Parliament that the government will not require a supplementary budget this year, describing current expenditure as manageable within the approved 2025 framework. His comments came during Tuesday’s sitting of the ongoing 2026 budget debate, where he expressed confidence in the administration’s fiscal management.
Minister Zameer said the government does not anticipate exceeding its allocations for the year, noting that this marks a departure from recent administrations that frequently returned to Parliament seeking additional funds. He also highlighted that next year is expected to be the most demanding debt repayment year in Maldives’ history, but maintained that the 2026 budget has been drafted with these repayment pressures in mind.
Economists at the Ministry of Finance and the Maldives Monetary Authority believe that the proposed budget can remain sustainable, provided current revenue measures perform as expected. According to the Minister, the government is exploring ways to increase revenue without raising taxes, including the development of an international financial centre and the use of emerging technologies such as blockchain and tokenisation to attract new forms of investment. He also pointed to efforts to improve the profitability of domestic airports.
While the government has emphasised fiscal discipline and spending control, this year’s capital expenditure tells a more restrained story. Large portions of the 2025 capital budget remain underutilised, with many planned development projects progressing slowly or yet to begin physical work. Recent fiscal updates show that project mobilisation has not matched the scale of funds allocated at the start of the year. This has resulted in a widening gap between approved capital spending and actual implementation, raising concerns about whether the government’s development commitments will be delivered within the expected timelines.
The underuse of capital funds also raises questions about the government’s ability to balance fiscal restraint with the need to accelerate infrastructure projects that have been repeatedly described as essential for economic growth.
Minister Zameer, however, maintained that the administration is committed to staying within its spending limits and pledged that next year’s budget would follow the same approach. He reiterated criticisms of the previous government’s handling of debt, noting the absence of a reliable repayment structure, and said that the current administration intends to pursue a more sustainable model going forward.
