Maldives request loan repayment extension from India

The Maldives government has once again made a rollover request on the USD 150 million loan provided by the Indian government.

The original USD 200 million loan was acquired by the Maldives government in 2019 as a budget support; with USD 50 million already repaid, as confirmed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Moosa Zameer.

Zameer formally requested from the Indian government for a loan rollover during his recent official trip to the country. He further confirmed Indian government did not demand for any compensation to extend the leniency.

"Based on the statements made by the External Affairs Ministry, we are positive and believe they are ready to extend help to us always. While they had recalled of helping us in the past, they have already given us the green signal during the one-on-one talks," Zameer said.

Foreign Minister also said the state debt had doubled when the current administration took charge, and added the government has taken several steps in the past six months to reduce its debt inclusive of seeking leniencies to repay the outstanding loans.

During Zameer's official trip to India last week, he met with the External Affairs Minister of India Dr. S. Jaishankar, to talk over multiple areas of mutual cooperation, which included extending leniencies for the outstanding loans extended by India.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maldives government owes MVR 6.28 billion (USD 406 million) in outstanding loans to the Indian government as of 2023 last quarter.