Malé, Maldives – The Finance Ministry of Maldives has revealed that the state debt of the country has risen to MVR 79.8 billion.
Statistics publicised by the Finance Ministry revealed that the external debt for the third quarter of the previous year was amounted to MVR 38 billion with internal debt standing at MVR 41.7 billion.
External debt of the country was calculated to be 66 percent of the GDP while internal debt was at 72 percent. The total debt percentage was calculated at 138 percent of the GDP. Until June of last year, the GDP of the Maldives remained at MVR 57.9 billion.
When compared with the state debts 2019, the total state debt of the Maldives was calculated at MVR 67.9 billion while in 2018 the debt was MVR 48.2 billion.
While the debt of the Maldives has increased by MVR 8 billion, the nation has obtained a number of loans to cope with the expenditure of COVID-19. The main industry of the Maldives, tourism was faced a huge downfall as a result of the travel restrictions that came across the world due to the pandemic.
The government was forced to make four overdrafts from the central bank while Finance Ministry statistics show that the Maldives had to obtain 18 loans during the pandemic. The economy of the country is now expected to increase with the tourism industry of the country expected to return back to its pre-pandemic status.
