Male’, Maldives – Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has said that their party’s Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer would keep proper records of the national debt.
This comes after the President of MDP, Former President and Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed said that the government had no money to pay for the loans which have their grace periods ending within the next couple of years.
Speaker Nasheed said the grace period of the most of the loans taken in between 2012 and 2018 will be due soon and the current government will have to pay these loans. He added that the government does not have sufficient income to repay these loans.
“Most have to be paid between 2021 and 2023. My opinion is to repay the loans taken in 2012-2018 without any further penalties”, said Nasheed.
Dharaneege hisaabu thah mi Partyge Finance Minister Hon @iameeru balahattavaane. pic.twitter.com/20UX1ph2km
— MDP Secretariat (@MDPSecretariat) October 10, 2020
Even though there is an increased amount of debts, Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer had previously reassured that such a situation where the government is unable to pay the debts will not come. He stated that the government is taking loans and getting grant assistance from foreign parties in order to get out from the huge downfall in the economy due to Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the statistics publicized by the Finance Ministry showing the debts of the government till June, the current debts of the government amount to MVR 74 billion. This includes internal debts of MVR 36 billion and foreign debts of MVR 37.7 billion as well as assured debts of MVR 16.6 billion.
