USD 50 mn loan to lower expenditure on oil, improve service

European Investment Bank has granted Maldivian government a loan of USD 50 million to lower expenditure on oil, and improve quality of electricity provided to citizens of the country.

The agreement was signed in a ceremony held at Stelco on Tuesday, which was attended by Maldivian Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad, and Loan Officer for European Investment Bank, Dr. Tao Ren – who were the ones to sign the agreement.

Managing Director of Stelco, Abdul Shukoor and Managing Director of Fenaka Corporation, Mohamed Nimal signed the agreement to run the project.

Speaking in answer to a question posed by “Sun” regarding the loan, State Environment Minister Abdul Matheen Mohamed said that the loan would be used to carry out renewable energy projects, improve quality of electricity in the atolls, and to link electricity systems in Male’ and Hulhumale’.

Matheen said that they aimed to have 30 percent of electricity provided to atolls to run on renewable energy within the next three years. And that the loan would also be used to fund the project.

The loan has an interest rate of 3.31 percent and is repayable within 15 years.