Malé, Maldives – A motion to question Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer has been submitted to the Parliament.
The motion was filed by Member of Parliament representing North Galolhu constituency and Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Eva Abdullah.
Specifics of the motion reveal that Eva requests details on how much funds for essential food, fuel and medicines is estimated to remain in the state reserve by the end of July. In asking so, Eva highlighted that as of June 2022, usable funds from the foreign currency reserve of the country stands at USD 317 million, while more than USD 130 million has to be spent on repaying debts within this June and upcoming month of July. Eva also pointed out that in addition to this USD 130 million, the budgeted deficit for the two months stands and USD 150 million.
This comes at a time when the Speaker of Parliament and Former President of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed has estimated that the nation’s reserve will deplete to critically low levels during next month. Similar concerns regarding the economic trajectory of the entire country have been raised by JPMorgan and Bank of Maldives as well.
However, Minister of Finance has denounced these forecasts and said that there is no truth to the beliefs that the country’s reserve may be eliminated and face a default.
