Domestic debt stood at MVR 73 billion at the end of last year, while external debt stood at MVR 51 billion.
According to data released by the Ministry of Finance, the state's debt stood at MVR 124 billion at the end of 2023. This includes MVR 14 billion as state-backed guarantees.
This is MVR 10 billion more than what it was at the start of last year. At the beginning of last year, the state's debt stood at MVR 114 billion. At that time, domestic debt stood at MVR 65 billion, and external borrowings stood at MVR 49 billion.
The state's domestic debt stood at 68 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while external debt stood at 48 percent of GDP.
Of the domestic debt, MVR 59 billion was borrowed from the Pension Office and commercial banks. The central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), also disbursed MVR 8.7 billion last year. In the same year, MVR 458 million was spent to pay off internal debt.
At the end of 2021, the state's debt stood at MVR 95 billion, indicating that state debt has increased by MVR 30 billion in the last two years.
The government's debt is increasing year by year, and 2026 will be the year when the government will have to pay off its largest debt USD 1 billion (MVR 15.4 billion) at once.
The government has decided to use MVR 9.8 billion from the sovereign fund to repay the debt. The fund currently has MVR 7.4 billion, and the government aims to increase it to MVR 9.7 billion by the end of this year.
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