Student loans postponed with no changes to payment amounts

The Ministry of Higher Education has announced that the amount to be repaid for student loans will remain the same even after the government announced that such loans would be postponed for a period of six months in light of the situation with Covid-19 in the country.

The move was a measure to alleviate the financial burden from the public due to the situation with the virus which is heavily impacting the Maldivian economy and was announced by the President yesterday.

In a statement, the Ministry of Higher Education stated that there were around 4000 people who will gain financial alleviations from the government’s decision to postpone student loan repayments. The ministry stated that National Student Loan Schemes to be repaid via BOC, BML, Educational Assistance Loan schemes and loans to be repaid through MIRA would also be deferred for a period of six months. The decision also includes those repaying loans to the Ministry directly and was being arranged by the relevant authorities to be implemented.

The decision means that the period of repayment would be extended by six months and no changes to the amount for the monthly payments would be brought in light of the decision.

“It is requested that those repaying the student loans are to follow the instructions of the banks.” Read the statement by Higher Education.