India to continue supporting Maldives in fight against Covid-19

Maldives and India will continue to support each other in the fight against the health and economic impacts of Covid-19, says Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi said this via Twitter, responding to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

The Maldivian president had sent a tweet out on Sunday, thanking the Indian government and people following the handover of the symbolic cheque of USD 250 million extended to the Maldives as budgetary support.

Describing India’s actions as “neighborly spirit and generosity,” Solih said that the neighborly nation “has always risen to the occasion whenever Maldives needed a friend.”

Former President and current Parliament Speaker, Mohamed Nasheed also thanked the Indian government and people for the financial support package.

He said that the assistance is “absolutely timely in these difficult days”, and expressed confidence that the Maldivian government “will be mindful” in the manner that the funds are utilized.

The USD 250 million was provided in response to an urgent request made by President Solih to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to overcome the difficult economic situation faced by the country due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The financial assistance package was announced in August during a virtual meeting between Shahid and the Indian External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishanakar, and is being provided through a treasury bond sale to the State Bank of India in Male’.

The aid is to be used to “support the financing of the revenue gap, and meet the government’s immediate financing needs.”

Noting that the USD 250 million is the “largest financial support package announced by a bilateral partner during Covid-19”, Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid said that with the USD 1.4 billion financial package announced in Dec 2018 as well as the continued cash grants for community projects, “this is by far the largest single donor assistance Maldives has received.”

India’s assistance to Maldives amid the Covid-19 pandemic has been immense, from evacuation of Maldivians stranded in Wuhan, China where Covid-19 was first discovered to sending medical experts and providing essentials. Further, India is also allowing Maldivian patients requiring advanced medical care to travel there despite border closure.