Govt settles SBI bond with USD 50 million BML loan
Neither the government nor any official agency has disclosed any information about the transaction.
By
Mohamed Muzayyin Nazim
The government used a loan from the Bank of Maldives (BML) to pay off the USD 50 million (MVR 771 million) worth of treasury bonds sold to State Bank of India (SBI) by the previous administration.
It is learned that the government took the loan in the name of MACL in December last year.
A government official told Atoll Times on Monday that the government had to resort to the BML loan after it failed to rollover the USD 50 million bond it had sold to SBI during the previous regime.
In addition, instead of lending directly to the government, BML had to lend to MACL because government had already reached the single borrower limit.
The SBI bond was sold in January last year during former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration through the Indian government. This government paid for the bonds in January.
Neither the government nor any official agency has disclosed any information about the transaction. The government declined to comment on the matter.
Since the bank sanctioned a USD 50 million loan to the government, it has halted the release of dollars to TTs that companies make to pay abroad for imports. BML has recently decided to:
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Reduce the foreign transaction card limits issued for MVR accounts if the situation does not improve as receipts in dollars are now low
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The Cabinet's decision to increase the card limit for students studying abroad from 1st of this month will not be implemented.
