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Maldives' national debt expected to hit MVR 123.4 bln by year's end

The Maldives' national debt is anticipated to reach MVR 123.4 billion by the end of this year, according to recent estimates from the Finance Ministry's "Medium Term Debt Strategy 2025 - 2027."

According to the strategy report, the national debt was MVR 110.8 billion at the end of 2023, amounting to 109.6 percent of the country's GDP.

The Finance Ministry's Fiscal Strategy Statement 2024-2026 issued in October last year forecasted that the national debt would reach MVR 129 billion by the end of 2024. However, current projections suggest that debt levels will reach MVR 123.4 billion this year, amounting to 114.1 percent of GDP.

The report states that MVR 80.2 billion of the total debt will be domestic debt, while MVR 43.2 billion will be external debt. Short-term treasury bills make up 54 percent of the domestic debt.

At the end of 2023, the government's external debt stood at MVR 38 billion. The Finance Ministry estimates that external debt will increase by 13.7 percent by the end of this year compared to 2023.