Riyaz Rasheed, the deputy leader of the ruling party’s parliamentary group, has claimed that the state debt will drop to MVR 2 – 3 million by the end of the year.

At President Abdulla Yameen’s 2018 campaign rally in Laamu Atoll on Friday night, Rasheed said that when Yameen became president, the state debt had been at MVR 29 billion.

While Rasheed has claimed that the state debt will drop considerably, the state budget estimates that the state debt will rise to MVR 49 billion by the end of the year.

Rasheed claimed that President Yameen’s economic policy is to thank for reducing the state debt. However, it is questionable that Rasheed has read the state budget, which was drafted by the finance ministry under the scrutiny of President Yameen specifically to implement his economic policies. The parliament had made only little changes to the state budget before approving.

The government’s proposed state budget states that the state debt rose to MVR 14 billion during President Yameen’s term and will rise further to MVR 49 billion at the end of his term, accumulating MVR 20 billion of state debt during his five-year term.

There have been numerous reports of corruption running rampant in President Yameen’s large-scale projects, which he undertook after accepting large amounts of loans.