India and Maldives sign loan agreement

The Maldivian government has today signed an agreement with the Indian government to secure USD 100 million as a stand-by credit facility which will be used to push the Maldives out of the current financial difficulties.

Mohamed Naseer, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, signed the agreement on behalf of the Maldives, while the Foreign Secretary at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs Rajan Mathai signed for India.

Even though the agreement was signed today, the Indian government has already given the Maldives USD 30 million out of the total amount of the loan, towards the end of last month.

In a ceremony held at the President’s Office today, the two governments signed six different agreements.

In a joint statement following the signing of the agreements, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that in addition to providing the loan facility, India will also consider ways of helping the Maldives in the area of developing financial and banking infrastructure.

Neither the Maldivian nor the Indian officials have disclosed the interest rates for the credit facility.

The Maldivian government has previously taken a loan from the Indian government, amounting to USD 100 million as well.

The remaining agreements, out of the six signed today, were about joint efforts against terrorism, renovating the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, cooperating in economic development, extradition of criminals between the two countries, and joint development projects for the years 2012 and 2013.