India has expressed satisfaction over the increase in the Maldives’ foreign currency reserves, crediting it in part to the currency swap facility extended by India to overcome the Maldives’ foreign exchange crisis.
The currency swap facility was provided by India in October last year.
On the Maldives maintaining its CC credit rating on global credit rating firm, Fitch Ratings, the Indian High Commission in the Maldives, in a post published on social media platform X, said India is pleased that the foreign exchange reserves increase in the Maldives was driven by a USD 400 million drawdown under a currency swap agreement between the central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority, and Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The swap alleviated imminent external liquidity strains as noted by Fitch credit rating for the Maldives, the High Commission said.
The Ministry of Finance and Planning released a statement following Fitch's rating, pointing out that tourist arrivals to the Maldives have increased by 9.4 percent so far this year compared to 2024. This has boosted Fitch's GDP growth forecast of 4.8 percent for 2025, the Ministry noted. With the opening of the new terminal at Velana International Airport (VIA), the government expects GDP growth to reach 6.0 percent in 2026, the Ministry said.
Fitch’s rating action reflected an increase in foreign exchange reserves as a result of the mandatory foreign exchange laws implemented by the government. As a result of these fiscal reforms, the government's official reserves reached USD 856.3 million as of April 2025. The Finance Ministry said the government is optimistic on increasing the reserves during the medium-term.