President Mohamed Muizzu has said the government has USD 650 million in savings and there are no financial constraints at the moment.
Meeting reporters for the first time in nearly a year, Muizzu spoke about the situation in the Middle East and its impacts on the economy.
The government has to pay USD 500 million as a bullet payment and USD 25 million as a final coupon payment for a sukuk due in April.
"Yes, the government has decided to pay the USD 500 million sukuk on April 8, 2026. That is the due date. We have more than USD 650 million in savings to pay on April 8, 2026," Muizzu said.
"So we will have USD 150 million left after paying the USD 500 million sukuk," he added.
Muizzu said USD 320 million is in the Sovereign Development Fund (SDF), and the rest is in the state usable reserves.
Although the government has enough money to pay the sukuk, it is not the government's plan to use the money in the SDF and reserves.
The government planned to pay USD 150 million of the USD 500 million from the SDF and refinance the remaining USD 350 million. The government wanted to take out a loan to raise money for the refinancing of the sukuk.
Adhadhu was previously informed that this is a loan from Cargill Financial Services International (CFSIT) at a very high interest rate. However, Muizzu denied this during his presidential address at the opening session of parliament.
According to the latest updates, the government had been in the final stages of the finalising the loan. But it is unclear whether the agreement was signed since the Finance Ministry declines to comment.
