Auditor general urges controls as government staffing and wage costs rise sharply

Auditor General Hussain Niyazy has said it is important to control growth in government staffing, following a sharp increase in the total number of state employees in recent years.

Niyazy made the remarks in a technical opinion submitted at the request of the People's Majlis on the government's proposed state budget for 2027.

The technical opinion, signed by Niyazy and released today, said spending on state employees' salaries and allowances had risen sharply in recent years. With changes to state institutions' pay structures under the pay harmonisation policy, the budget projects expenditure of MVR 14 billion on salaries and allowances in 2027.

It also noted that the total number of state employees had increased substantially in recent years.

Niyazy said the budget allocated MVR 2.6 billion for pension expenditure in 2027, while schemes introduced by various state institutions outside the Maldives Retirement Pension Scheme were making the pension system less equitable and increasing state expenditure.

He also said the budget book submitted for 2025 included projections showing that pension expenditure would rise over the long term unless the allowance paid to people over 65 was made means-tested.

Niyazy said those projections indicated that the expenditure would exceed MVR 4 billion in 2042 and reach MVR 7.9 billion in 2055.

Niyazy therefore stressed the importance of identifying and implementing the changes needed to the pension system to bring expenditure to a sustainable level.