Deputy Leader of People's National Congress (PNC) Mohamed Saeed has criticized the government for taking loans to pay the salaries of government employees.

Statistics show that 10 percent of the estimated grant aid will be received in this year's state budget.

The government has proposed a budget of MVR 37 billion for this year, with revenue and grants estimated at MVR 24.28 billion. However, as of September 2022, MVR 271.6 million had been received as free aid. This is only 9.3 per cent of the estimated amount of free aid.

Former Economic Minister Ahmed Saeed tweeted today that MVR 193 million has been collected in fines and MVR 159 million has been spent on travel so far this year. The country's debt has risen to over MVR 100 million, he said.

Noting that the state debt is increasing by MVR 28 million every day, Saeed said that the government refuses to disclose the state reserve and that loans are now being taken to pay the salaries of its employees.

According to statistics released by the Finance Ministry every week, the state received MVR 271.6 million as grant aid as of September 29.