Sovereign guarantee for Urbanco’s MVR 200M loan during presidential election

It has been revealed that Urbanco withdrew two loans valued at MVR 200 million loan from Maldives Islamic Bank (MIB) under sovereign guarantee during September’s presidential election.

Information disclosed during a meeting of the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday showed that the loan was withdrawn to fund Urbaco’s expenses.

The loan facility comprises of MVR 100 million and USD 6.6 million (MVR 99.8 million). The administration of former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih gave sovereign guarantee to the loan on September 20^th; a date falling between the two rounds of the presidential election.

The loan needs to be repaid within two years and six months. The interest of the MVR 100 million is seven percent. With a proccing fee of MVR 1 million and projected expense to service the loan, the repayment amount is expected to rise to MVR 111 million.

The repayment of the loan is projected to be completed in 2025. 

Meanwhile, the interest rate of the USD 6.6 million is 7.68 percent. The Public Accounts Committee, however, noting there might be a mistake in the information submitted regarding the loan, has decided to inform the same to Finance Ministry’s secretariat to validate the information.

State debt presently stands MVR 108 million which includes MVR 59 million internal debt and MVR 49 million external debt.