Today, the Cabinet set out a policy to allocate 2011 budget among atolls and administrative regions. The policy will facilitate decentralized administration in the country. According to the policy, the recurrent expenditure in the programmes will be allocated as follows:
- 30% to the central government
- 50% to the islands
- 13% to atolls
- 7% to administrative regions
Island-wise, budget allocation will be proportional to registered population, and an equal budget will be allocated for atolls and administrative regions.
At today’s Cabinet meeting, the members deliberated on a paper submitted by Health and Family on the issue of people sleeping in the Male’ local market area. The Cabinet decided to hold discussions with stakeholders and formulate a fair policy to address such issues.
The Cabinet also discussed Maldives’ ratification of the agreement to establish South Asian Regional Standard Organisation (SARSO), and decided to seek People’s Majlis approval for ratifying the agreement. SARSO is a SAARC agreement aimed, among other things, at promoting and undertaking harmonization of national standards of Member States with a view to removing technical barriers to trade and facilitate flow of goods and services in the region.
