Vice Speaker of the Parliament Eva Abdulla had requested for details on the amount of money expected to be in the state reserve at the end of July, that will be available to be spent on staple food, fuel, and medicine.
This request was made considering the current economic situation Maldives appears to be in at the moment.
She had requested Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer to submit written documents detailing the information she had asked for.
In the notice sent to question the minister, Eva said there were USD 317 million in foreign funds in the state reserve at the beginning of June that the government can use. She also noted that Maldives had to repay over USD 130 million in this month and July.
"In addition to this USD 130 million, the budgeted deficit for the two months is an increase of over USD 150 million. While the financial situation is on this path, how many day’s worth of money is expected to be in the state reserve to be used at the end of July for staple food, fuel, and medicine,” Eva had asked in Dhivehi in the question she sent to the minister of finance.
The state debt has risen to MVR 99 billion with the debt collected in the first three months of 2022. Statistics released by the Finance Ministry show that the state debt increased by MVR 4.3 billion in the first three months of the year, including loans and sovereign guarantees taken by the government.
Minister Ameer denied the rumours that were sparked after the aforementioned details became public that the official reserve of Maldives has been exhausted and may the economy may default.
He said that with the increasing US Dollar income, the Reserve of Maldives will go back to pre-pandemic levels.
“Maldives faces no short-term challenges in repaying the debt it owes. We have the capacity to pay off the debt. The reserve will be at a good level by the end of the year,” Ameer has previously said.
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