Former President Mohamed Nasheed has said that the government is required to repay a $50 million bond to India by tomorrow, warning that the payment will leave the state with insufficient funds to cover essential expenditures.
In a post on X, Nasheed noted that the repayment would lead to a significant depletion of the Maldives Monetary Authority’s (MMA) usable reserves.
"As a result, from tomorrow onwards, the MMA’s usable reserves will drop substantially. The government will lack the funds required for staples, fuel, and medicine," Nasheed wrote in his post.
The $50 million due today represents the final installment of a $150 million Treasury Bill (T-bill) sold to the State Bank of India (SBI) as budget support, facilitated by the Indian government.
The current administration has previously settled $100 million of this debt in two separate payments.
While the $50 million repayment is due by tomorrow, the latest reserve figures released by the MMA yesterday show that total reserves stood at $643.8 million at the end of last month. However, usable reserves have already declined from $221.8 million to $200.6 million.
If the $50 million is paid as Nasheed suggests, the remaining usable reserves would drop to $150 million. Furthermore, if calculated using previous accounting methods—which exclude funds invested in commercial banks—the remaining usable reserves would stand at just $29 million.
