Government spending on employee salaries and wages has reached 4.75 billion rufiyaa so far this year, an increase of 12.7 percent — or 533 million rufiyaa — compared to the same period last year.

According to the Weekly Fiscal Developments Report released today by the Finance Ministry, total government expenditure through August 27 stood at 29.96 billion rufiyaa. That is a 17.5 percent rise on the 25.50 billion rufiyaa spent during the same period last year. Employee salaries also drove the largest week-on-week increase in spending.

Spending on land and buildings rose 44.6 percent to 1.24 billion rufiyaa, while 4.04 billion rufiyaa (up 6.2 percent) went to employee benefits and 1.56 billion rufiyaa (up 8 percent) to pensions and retirement benefits.

The biggest jump came in grants and subsidies, which climbed 40.3 percent to 8.54 billion rufiyaa. That figure includes 3.54 billion rufiyaa in subsidies and 1.67 billion rufiyaa transferred to councils. Aasandha received 1.45 billion rufiyaa, a 10.7 percent increase.