Maldives Turns to India for Bailout Amid Economic Crisis

Maldivian President Mohammed Muizzu has told the BBC that he’s confident that India will come to the aid of the island nation as it faces an economic crisis.

Muizzu, who began a five-day visit to India on Sunday, is expected to seek a bailout worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Maldives is staring at a debt default as its foreign exchange reserves have dropped to US $440 million, just enough for one-and-a-half months of imports.

Muizzu told the BBC in an email interview ahead of his visit that India is fully cognisant of their fiscal situation, and as one of the Maldive’s biggest development partners, will always be ready to ease their burden, find better alternatives and solutions to the challenges they face.

Experts point out that Muizzu’s reconciliatory tone towards Delhi is a far cry from the rhetoric he adopted during his election campaign a year ago.

That campaign had centred on an “India out” policy, demanding that Delhi must withdraw its troops from the island nation.