The Chinese government has given the green light to defer the repayment of loans, facilitated to the Maldives through the Export–Import Bank of China across various development projects, over the next five years, President Mohammed Muizzu said Friday night. Muizzu was speaking during the commemoration of the Maldives’ 59th Independence Day.
India has already differed US$50 million in debt, the President also revealed.
The President said a country can only truly be seen to be independent when it achieves economic independence, national sovereignty, and control of its own defences, he said.
“There will be no freedom in a country where these three principles are not guaranteed,” he said.
Economic independence will be ensured by paying off the nation’s huge external debt, he said, adding that the administration was working diligently towards such ends.
China and India are the two countries that are the biggest contributors to the Maldives’ development the President said, going on to explain that he had held multiple discussions with the two nations during the past eight months and received plenty of cooperation on the issue of the Maldives’ loans — Muizzu went on to thank both governments for their assistance.
The administration has been able to defer the payment of US$50 million in debt to India and the food quota has been renewed for another two years, Muzzu said.
The President said he has received the ‘green signal’ for the possibility that the loans to China will also be restructured to be repaid over the next five years with the technical work already underway.
The Maldives owes US$1.37 billion to China, inclusive of sovereign guarantees, according to World Bank figures; accounting for 20 percent of the country’s external debt.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also decided to restructure loans over the next five years, Muizzu said, as he went on to state that this is how foreign policy should be shaped to ensure a country’s economic independence.