NEW DELHI, Sep 21: India has extended a soft loan of $250 million to Maldives to take care of the economic impact of the COVID crisis. It was in response to a request from the Maldives president Ibrahim Mohammad Solih to the prime minister Narendra Modi seeking financial assistance from India to meet the difficult economic situation in the Maldives.
Maldives is the only beneficiary country which stands to profit the offer from Indian Government and showcases the connection, resilience and reliability of India’s Neighbourhood Policy and Maldives’ “India First Policy.”
The loan tenure is for 10 years and comes with minimal interest. The principal amount will be only due at the end of the ten years eliminating, the need for immediate payment though the interest amount will be paid bi-annually.
In a statement, the Indian mission in the Maldives said, “The budgetary support of USD 250 million is extended without conditions” and “Government of Maldives is at liberty to use the cash in repairing the domestic economic situation in line with its own priorities.”
The delivering ceremony was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Male in the presence of Sanjay Sudhir, the Indian Ambassador, Abdulla Sahid the Maldives Foreign Minister, Ibrahim Ameer the Minister of Finance, and others.
The loan assistance routed through the State Bank of India, Male, is provided in such a way that it does not get reflected in the external borrowings of the Maldives. India has provided a sovereign guarantee to SBI for financial assistance.
The Financial assistance was announced earlier during a virtual meeting between S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs and Ibrahim Ameer.
An official spokesman of the central government said this would help further strengthening the India-Maldives partnership amidst the ongoing pandemic as the Indian Government had extended all possible support to the government of Maldives. Additionally, on the request of the government of Maldives, India would also be sending a team of doctors and nurses recruited on short-term contracts to restore the health system in the Maldives in the battle against COVID-19, the spokesman said.
(Venkatesh Iyer)
