Yameen likens borrowing from central bank to printing money
Finance Minister Dr. Mohammed Shafeeg has denied to some media outlets that the government took money from the MMA to pay off the debt.
By
Fathmath Ahmed Shareef
Former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has said that even if President Mohammed Muizzu claimed he had paid off the MVR 13 billion state debt without printing more money, that is what he had done by taking the loan from central bank Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).
Speaking at the opening of the ruling party's official camp on Sunday evening, President Muizzu said the government has paid off its debt of MVR 13 billion in the past seven months with revenue. The debt was paid off without printing any money, he said, while continuing development works and many other important projects.
Speaking at the Monday evening PNF rally he attended for the first time since his release from jail, Yameen responded to the president’s claims with statistics.
Yameen said it was indeed good news if the debt was paid without printing money but added that people should look into how the debt was paid. He looked at how the government did it from a research perspective and it is clear that it had done it by taking a loan from MMA. He also said that the figure of MVR 13 billion mentioned by President Muizzu does not match.
The Finance Ministry could not be reached for comment. However, the Finance Minister, Dr. Mohammed Shafeeg has denied to some media outlets that the government took money from the MMA to pay off the debt.
Referring to the figures released by MIRA Yameen said:
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The government has so far received MVR 12 million in revenue; 13.7 million of which has been spent
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It is not known how the additional MVR 1.7 million there was obtained
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As of November last year, MMA reserves stood at MVR 1.7 billion; however, recent figures show that MVR 14.7 billion has been given as short-term loans requested by the government
Referring to these figures, Yameen said that the “unknown” MVR 1.7 billion of the MVR 13.7 billion was taken from MMA. Therefore, Yameen said that the money taken from MMA that way is equivalent to printing even if the cash is not printed and brought in from abroad.
He said money could be printed in two ways. According to him:
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One way is to print money and bring it [from abroad]
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The second option is to withdraw money from the MMA reserves
"If taken this way, it is the same as printing money. The result is the same. That is how the state is run saying that money has not been printed. The economic result is that money has been printed. They cannot run the government by taking loans from the MMA reserve. That is not right”.
Yameen said the most “abhorrent” habit of withdrawing money from the MMA was created by the then President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih in the previous government.
He said:
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He withdrew large amounts of money and extended the repayment period to 50 years
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The short-term loan requested by the government was made payable within one month
