Budget in context
The budget's headline figures set against the wider economy: GDP and the deficit as a share of it, using the Central Bank's (MMA) national accounts and government finance statistics alongside the Ministry of Finance's own approved-budget export.
Spending, revenue & GDP
| Year | Spending | Revenue | Deficit | GDP | Deficit, % of GDP | Debt repayment & lending |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Actual |
MVR 52.82 bn | MVR 35.09 bn | MVR -17.73 bn | MVR 100.46 bn | -17.7% | MVR 6.95 bn 13% of spending |
| 2025 Revised |
MVR 56.54 bn | MVR 37.87 bn | MVR -18.67 bn | MVR 106.80 bn | -17.5% | MVR 12.25 bn 22% of spending |
| 2026 Approved Budget |
MVR 64.20 bn | MVR 40.37 bn | MVR -23.83 bn | MVR 111.46 bn | -21.4% | MVR 14.99 bn 23% of spending |
| 2027 Projected |
MVR 56.75 bn | MVR 42.66 bn | MVR -14.09 bn | — | — | MVR 6.84 bn 12% of spending |
| 2028 Projected |
MVR 56.96 bn | MVR 45.21 bn | MVR -11.75 bn | — | — | MVR 6.17 bn 11% of spending |
GDP and deficit-to-GDP are blank for 2027/2028: MMA hasn't published GDP that far ahead yet. "Debt repayment & lending" is financing (loan/bond repayments, capital injections into SOEs), not spending on a government function. COFOG excludes it, which is also why it doesn't appear in MMA's function-based "government expenditure" figure.
Cross-check: for 2026, this budget's spending total minus debt repayment & lending (MVR 49.21 bn) matches MMA's independently-compiled "government expenditure" figure (table 6.1) to within a rounding error: two separately-sourced government datasets agreeing on the same number.
Primary balance & interest burden
The deficit strips out interest on past borrowing; the "primary balance" adds it back in: the underlying fiscal position before debt-service costs. Source: MMA government finance statistics (table 6.1/6.3), independent of the budget file above.
| Year | Overall balance | Primary balance | Interest payments | Interest, % of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | MVR -11.03 bn | MVR -7.57 bn | MVR 3.45 bn | 11.9% |
| 2023 | MVR -10.74 bn | MVR -6.55 bn | MVR 4.20 bn | 12.3% |
| 2024 | MVR -10.79 bn | MVR -6.12 bn | MVR 4.67 bn | 13.3% |
| 2025 | MVR -6.41 bn | MVR -1.55 bn | MVR 4.86 bn | 12.8% |
| 2026 | MVR -8.84 bn | MVR -3.28 bn | MVR 5.56 bn | 13.8% |
Revenue composition
Where government revenue actually comes from, as a share of the total. GST is shown separately as the single largest tax line, but it's already counted inside "tax revenue," not on top of it. Source: MMA table 6.2.
| Year | Tax revenue | Of which: GST | Non-tax revenue | Grants | Total revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | MVR 19.53 bn 67.3% |
MVR 3.18 bn 11.0% |
MVR 8.29 bn 28.5% |
MVR 1.04 bn 3.6% |
MVR 29.03 bn |
| 2023 | MVR 24.07 bn 70.5% |
MVR 4.50 bn 13.2% |
MVR 8.71 bn 25.5% |
MVR 1.01 bn 3.0% |
MVR 34.15 bn |
| 2024 | MVR 26.39 bn 75.2% |
MVR 5.03 bn 14.3% |
MVR 7.58 bn 21.6% |
MVR 652.6 m 1.9% |
MVR 35.09 bn |
| 2025 | MVR 28.59 bn 75.5% |
MVR 5.36 bn 14.1% |
MVR 8.75 bn 23.1% |
MVR 400.4 m 1.1% |
MVR 37.87 bn |
| 2026 | MVR 31.30 bn 77.5% |
MVR 5.62 bn 13.9% |
MVR 8.70 bn 21.6% |
MVR 373.6 m 0.9% |
MVR 40.37 bn |