USD 50 million deposited in Sovereign Development Fund: Shafeeq

Minister of Finance Dr Mohamed Shafeeq has announced that USD 50 million has been deposited in the Sovereign Development Fund (SDF) to date.

He added that the target is to deposit USD 100 million in the fund by the end of the year.

Speaking in a press conference held by the Ministry of Finance yesterday, Shafeeq said that when this administration had assumed office, USD 2 million had been deposited in the SDF. He said that the amount had been increased to USD 50 million through the past six months.

"Our target is to raise the amount in the fund to USD 100 million by the end of this year. We consider it as important to diversify our debt portfolio to source the funds needed for the State," he said.

At the start of the year, the total funds in the SDF amounted to USD 480 million (MVR 7.4 billion).

From this, approximately USD 370 million (MVR 5.7 billion) was invested in T-bills. USD 110 million (MVR 1.7 billion) was utilized in other investments.

As per the State Budget, USD 250 million (MVR 3.8 billion) from this fund will be used for debt repayment in 2025, and again in 2026.

Shafeeq said that while the SDF is being expanded, finance needed for the State will be sought under favourable terms, assuring that loans will not be taken with large interest rates.

He reiterated that the government currently places high priority on cutting costs, within which special steps are being taken to minimize spending on state owned enterprises.

"The SOE reform program is an important program. The amounts we are spending on state owned enterprises now...the companies need to become more efficient than now," he said.

Shafeeq said that under efforts to bring down spending by SOEs, financial statements of over 25 companies are being regularly reviewed, and measures are being taken to cut down subsidies being granted to these companies.