2016-17 Budget passed
30 voted for, 14 opposed while six did not vote
The 2016-2017 National Budget was passed in Parliament last night after a week of heated debates between Government and the Opposition. The Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, said outside Parliament they would be conducting a series of workshops before the financial year begins next month to discuss the implementation. The Budget was passed 30 votes to 14 while 6 didn’t vote. Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said before the Budget debate they had a meeting with Permanent Secretaries. “Workshops will be conducted before August to ensure that all implementation is on track and there is a huge rebuild allocation for expenditures,” he said.
“In terms of rebuilding, schools and health centres, public buildings, roads, bridges and jetties, so all that needs to be implemented as soon as possible.” He said they had other ambitious programmes along the pipeline in terms of rebuilding infrastructure; construction needed to start soon.
“Some planning had already been done and some are ready to go and commence almost immediately.
“For us key priorities is to get it right and we have other plans. Ministries will be visiting maritimes islands; we will be coordinating all of that,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said. He said the Opposition had made unfortunate statements on the Budget when it was debated in Parliament. However, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said the public were able to hear each minister’s explanation on Budget allocations.