India lowers budgeted aid for Maldives

Maldives witnessed a significant decrease in its outlay in neighbouring India's budget for 2024-25, dropping from Rs 770 crore ($91 million; MVR 1.4 billion) last year to Rs 400 crore ($47 million; MVR 732 million) this year.

In the interim budget released in February, India has proposed a 22% reduction in aid to the Maldives for the 2024-25 financial year.

The aid was set at Rs 600 crore or  for developmental assistance, ranking it as the third-highest recipient of aid from the government for foreign countries. This was reduced further to Rs 400 crore in the budget proposed on Tuesday, marking a drop of over 48%.

This reduction in allocation comes amidst strained relations between the two nations following the election of Mohamed Muizzu, known for his pro-China stance, as the president of Maldives in November last year.

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, who took the oath of office in November, is yet to make a state visit to India, but made his first state visit to China in January.

Since the arrival of Muizzu's government, relations between Maldives and India have been tense.

Critical of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s promotional video of Lakshadweep, three Maldivian deputy ministers criticised India and Modi on social media, following which there was a lot of back and forth taunts flung between the two nations.

However, the two nations have been working on mending their ties.