Maldives' state debt rises to MVR 126 billion

Maldives' public and publicly guaranteed (PPG) debt, by the end of this year's first quarter, has reached a staggering MVR 126 billion.

The quarterly bulletin published by Ministry of Finance shows that the total outstanding PPG debt is at MVR 126,184.9 million (MVR 126.2 billion, USD 8.19 billion), which is 110.1 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

This is an increase of MVR 1.4 billion within (USD 90.8 million) the first three months of 2024, given that the country's debt was at MVR 124.8 billion (USD 8.1 billion) at the end of last year.

This increase is mainly attributed to the elevating domestic debt from MVR 72.8 billion (USD 4.72 billion) to MVR 74 billion (USD 4.8 billion) during the first quarter of 2024. However, external debt remains stable at MVR 38 billion (USD 2.47 billion).

Out of the total debt, the budgetary central government (BCG) debt stands at MVR 112 (USD 7.28 billion) while the sovereign guaranteed debt is at MVR 14 billion (USD 908.7 million) during the first quarter. During this time, sovereign guaranteed debt dropped by around MVR 170 million (USD 11.02 million), accompanied by an increase in loans and bonds taken from the domestic market by the central government.

Although a hike in debt was observed, debt as a percentage of GDP has decreased by 6.4 percent and is currently at 110 percent in comparison to the beginning of the year where it stood at 116 percent.

Maldives' debt is projected to be on an incline and reach MVR 131 billion (USD 8.50 billion) by the end of the year, valuing at around 114 percent of GDP.