Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) declared Monday that the state has received total USD 178.9 million (MVR 2.7 billion) through the Currency Swap deal with India, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to offset the economic repercussions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the central bank, Maldives received USD 150 million (MVR 2.3 billion) through the Currency Swap, and USD 28.9 million (MVR 445 million) from IMF.
MMA stated that this financial assistance would help the bank issue foreign currency for the import of essential food products and resources for the healthcare sector as immediately required.
Maldives entered the USD 400 million Currency Swap agreement with India in June 2019, as part of the USD 1.4 billion economic package deal President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih signed with the Indian government during his state visit in 2018.
IMF's disbursement was recently approved by the fund's Executive Board, and issued from its Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) upon the Maldivian administration's request for assistance to address the country's challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to the Currency Swap and IMF, the Maldivian government is also seeking to secure financial aid from several other international institutions to offset the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other measures taken to stabilise the economy include increasing the amount issued to the foreign exchange market via banks in order to maintain exchange rates, as well arrangements to provide foreign currency to banks via all of MMA's facilities.
With Maldives set to see the worst economic recession in South Asia as per the World Bank, MMA declared that it was closely monitoring the fiscal and economic repercussions on the country due to the pandemic and taking immediate action as necessary.
The central bank's international reserves, which stood at USD 741.4 million by the end of March, reached USD 882.6 million by April 27, 2020.
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