Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer has requested that India roll over the remaining US$150 million loan owed by the Maldives to the nation, the minister revealed on Saturday.
Zameer said during a news conference at the President’s Office that the Maldives had requested the Indian government extend the repayment period of the remaining US$150 million, out of the total US$200 million, taken for budget support during the Ibrahim Mohamed Solih administration in 2019. In January this year, US$50 million was repaid by the Maldives, he said.
“We have asked for the remaining amount to be rolled over and the Indian government has not asked us for anything in return,” Zameer said.
Noting that the debt left by the Solih administration had been double that of the Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom administration, Zameer said the Mohamed Muizzu administration was always working to find ways to repay the amounts, adding that a lot of work has been done in the last six months with President Muizzu’s active involvement.
The Maldives’ top diplomat met with India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and other officials during his visit to India last week, where, according to the Maldives’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he discussed further strengthening bilateral relations between India and the Maldives.
“I gather the External Affairs Ministry has said that it always looks positively at the needs of the country and that it will always help us with significant needs and has done what we needed in the past. So we have been given the green light on it one-on-one,” Zameer said.