The Finance Ministry has requested that the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament keep certain financial documents confidential. During a meeting on Tuesday, Committee Chairman and Maamigili MP Gasim Ibrahim revealed that the Finance Ministry had provided three documents related to government expenditures, revenues, and debt policy. Among these, the ministry asked that two documents be kept secret:

• The medium-term fiscal strategy or revenue and expenditure policy for 2024-2026
• The state debt strategy, outlining how the government will manage its debt

Gasim explained that while the Finance Ministry categorized these two documents as confidential, the committee must decide whether to honor this request. The documents in question are required by law to be submitted to Parliament annually, with the fiscal policy statement also published in the Government Gazette.

Following the ministry’s request, Baarah MP Ibrahim Shujau proposed that the meeting discussing these documents be kept secret. Initially, the motion received mixed support, but after a second vote, five out of eight committee members agreed to keep the meeting confidential.

Additionally, the committee reviewed a document detailing state loans, including sovereign-guaranteed and state-issued loans. During an informal discussion, Deputy Speaker of Parliament criticized the document for lacking completeness, particularly concerning details of significant loans, including MVR 637 million to SIFCO and substantial loans to POLCO. He called for further clarification on these issues. The committee unanimously supported this proposal, but no official comments were made regarding the debt information provided by the Finance Ministry.