Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer has informed the Parliament that he has not been able to attend today’s parliament session due to health issues.

In a letter to Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, Finance Minister Ameer said that he w could not attend the the parliament session due to his ill health.

It is with regret that i am unable to attend tomorrow’s parliament session due to my ill health, even though the presentation of budget for 2024 was on the agenda of the session scheduled to be held on Monday, November 13, 2023.

the letter read.

Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer’s decision not to attend the first agenda meeting to present the budget came after Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath suggested that no other work could be done in the parliament without taking a decision on Nasheed’s no-confidence motion.

It was not immediately clear how the house decided to hold the budget session scheduled for presentation in the absence of Finance Minister.

The session was scheduled to begin at 9 am today.

According to the Finance Act and rules of parliament, the Finance Minister is required to present the budget for the next financial year before November 1 every year. The Finance Ministry presented a budget of MVR 49.5 billion for the fiscal year 2024.

In addition to the budget presentation meeting, Nasheed’s removal resolution has also been re-scheduled for a meeting scheduled for 11 am today.