Speaker warns state reserve may drop to dangerous levels

The Speaker of People's Majilis (Maldives Parliament) Mr. Mohamed Nasheed has warned on the possibility of state reserves sliding into dangerous territories by July 2022.

Nasheed's comments followed the recent revelation from Ministry of Finance of the total government debt hitting MVR99 billion.

According to the parliament Speaker, he had spoken about restructuring the debt twice; once in 2019 and again in 2020, due to the expected prospective challenges.

Moreover, Nasheed noted on state facing extra hurdles in maintaining debt obligations by 2023.

The ambiguity surrounding debt repayment with regards to the state's plan of action to generate revenue towards debt clearance was also stressed by Nasheed.

Furthermore, the Speaker had advised Parliament's Public Finance Committee to step in and evaluate the matter.

Ministry of Finance had earlier confirmed that the state debt rose by MVR4.3 billion during the first quarter of 2022 compared to the last quarter of 2021.