Bank of Maldives (BML) has announced the deadline to apply for the COVID-19 Economic Stimulus Loan is July 17. BML stated it is accepting and processing applications for the COVID-19 Economic Stimulus Loan to provide relief support for businesses and that requests are being reviewed on a first-come-first-served basis.
Furthermore, BML stated the applications it has accepted have exceeded the allocated funds under the loan scheme. Therefore, BML has set the deadline for acceptance of applications under the scheme to July 17 and will invite further applications at a later date if funds are available after the evaluation of existing applications.
On May 27, the government announced two loan schemes under its COVID-19 Recovery Economic Stimulus Scheme, which are the COVID-19 Economic Stimulus Loan and the COVID-19 Sustainable Stimulus Loan. The aim of the stimulus package is to increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and help businesses recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The economic stimulus loans are issued to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. SMEs can apply for loans up to USD 650,000, stated BML.
The loans are issued without a mortgage, at an interest rate of 6% with a repayment period of four years and a grace period of one year.