'Foreign advisors exploit our resources': Nasheed

Former President Mohamed Nasheed on Tuesday had praised the current administration’s decision to exit from a partnership with a US investment banking advisory firm.

Nasheed, who has also been a former Parliament Speaker, in a post on X praised incumbent President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu for his decision to exit the partnership with US’s Centerview Partners.

“Such debt advisors, in reality, have been exploiting the resources of our country,” Nasheed said.

Earlier on October 12^th, Reuters had reported while corroborating two different sources, that the Maldives government had entered into a partnership with Centerview.

However, several media on Tuesday, while quoting the Maldives Ministry of Finance, reported the agreement has been annulled. The ministry however, has not been available for a comment on the matter.

With mounting state debt, the Maldives national debt was most recently reported at 116.5 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Majority of its foreign debt obligations are owed to India and China.

The Maldives government has been holding dialogue with both Beijing and New Delhi for ways to acquire leniency in debt servicing.

At a time when global institutions, financial and media included, have raised concerns on the alarming surge of national debt and the risks associated with it, the Maldives government has been rolling out rigorous austerity measures that more recently included an announcement to cut political positions as well.