Photo: Collected
The Maldives says its financial troubles are "temporary" and the luxury tourist destination has no plans to seek an International Monetary Fund bailout after warnings of a possible sovereign default.
Foreign minister Moosa Zameer said the Indian Ocean archipelago, best knownfor its upscale resorts and celebrity visitors, was pressing ahead with tax hikes to meet its debt servicing obligations.
"We have bilateral partners who are very sensitive to our needs and our situation," Zameer told reporters in Colombo on Friday night.
"I seriously don't think it is a time where we will be right now engaging with the IMF... The issue that we have is very temporary because currently we are having a dip in reserves."
He said tax reforms, along with the rationalisation of state-owned enterprises, would improve liquidity.
Zameer was visiting Sri Lanka along with Finance Minister Mohamed Shafeeq tomeet with local central bankers and other officials.
China and India are the two largest bilateral lenders to the Maldives, a tiny nation of 1,192 tiny coral islands in the Indian Ocean scattered across the equator.
President Mohamed Muizzu came to power a year ago on the back of a campaign to evict a small contingent of Indian troops deployed in the Maldives and pursue closer ties with China.
Messenger/Disha
