The fiscal balance for the month of May 2021, weighing the state expenditure against state revenue, gives an overall deficit of MVR1,180.2 million (MVR1.2 billion).
According to the latest Monthly Fiscal Developments from Ministry of Finance the state revenue inclusive of grants reached MVR996.5 million in May 2021, which is a 241.3% increment from the same month last year.
Moreover, the ministry reported the revenue bump came majorly due to the improved performance of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The revenue composition further revealed that TGST took up 36.6% of the total state revenue share making it the strongest revenue component while Import Duties covered 15.9% of the total revenue earned.
On the other hand, total expenditure for the review month increased by just 2.4% when compared with the corresponding month in 2020. The total expenditure for May 2021 was observed at MVR2,176.7 million (MVR2.2 billion).
Furthermore, under the expenditure composition the capital expenditure declined by MVR79.4 million while recurrent expenditure increased by MVR130.0 million.
The hike in state’s recurrent expenditure is attributed towards the increased salaries and wages of public sector or government sector employees. Salaries and wages took up a share of 38.8% of the total expenditure in the review month.
Meanwhile, 33.6% of the total expenditure was taken up by Administrative and Operational Expenses with state lending taking up 7.4% of the total expenditure share.