Friday
26th Apr 2024
Dhivehi Edition
Event held to sign the loan agreement. Photo: Indian High Commission.
The Maldives' national debt has risen to a record high of MVR 91 billion.
This is the first time that the Maldivian national debt has soared this high in the country's history. According to statistics publishe by the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), the State's national debt had risen to MVR 91.4 billion by the end of 2021.
MVR 50 billion was internal debt, and MVR 41 billion was external debt. The figure of MVR 91 billion does not include the debts for which the Maldivian government had granted a sovereign guarantee.
At the time of President Solih's inauguration in 2018, the national debt was at MVR 47.9 billion; the Solih administration has managed to accrue a debt of MVR 43 billion in its first three years. The Solih'd administration's Ministry of Finance has estimated that the national debt would rise to MVR 98 billion by the end of the Solih presidency.
This is the first time that any single presidential administrative term has accrused this much national debt.
On the campaign trail, as a presidential candidate, Solih had claimed that he would not place the people in debt.
The bulk of the Solih administration's external loans had been granted by India; the government had publicly mis-characterised these interest-bearing loans as free aid.