Ministry of Finance has revealed Maldives government spent nearly MVR 300 million from the 2023 fiscal budget on treasury loans to facilitate cashflow of state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
The ministry said the government faced notable challenges in budget management due to the high expenditure towards SOEs to adjust their cashflow. The treasury loans issued by the government so far in 2023 is an 80% increase compared to the last two years, and a 60% increase compared to the year before.
In 2022, Maldives government issued MVR 50 million in treasury loans for SOEs and a year earlier in 2021, it issued MVR 200 million.
The state has MVR 865 million in receivables from SOEs, with another MVR 1.1 billion spent to initiate various projects of SOEs.
The government allocated the most number of loans to Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), Urbanco and Fahi-Dhiriulhun Corporation (FDC) for airport development and housing projects, respectively.
The ministry said that despite significant expenditure on SOEs, the revenue generated from SOE dividends is comparatively less. The ministry also noted the delays in repayment of loans issued for projects and state-guaranteed loans as other hindrances for the government to generate income.
So far in 2023, the government has generated MVR 650 million in SOE dividends which is 50% of the projected revenue of MVR 1.1 billion for 2023.
Besides this, the taxation owed to the government by SOEs currently amount to MVR 880 million.
