India announces $250 million loan to Maldives

India has announced a $250 million loan to the Maldives to boost its economy, AFP reported.

India’s High Commission in the Maldives said the loan was being provided after a request by Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih for “financial assistance to overcome the difficult economic situation.”

“The Maldives is at liberty to use the money in repairing the domestic economic situation in line with its own priorities,” it said in a statement.

A sale of treasury bonds issued by the Maldives government to State Bank of India (SBI) will raise the money, with 10 years given for repayment, the statement cited by AFP added.

The assistance follows a $500 million pledge by New Delhi in August to help build bridges and causeways in the nation of 1,192 islands located on major East-West shipping lanes.

The bond takes New Delhi’s total pledged financial assistance to the Maldives to over $2 billion since Solih came to power, according to India’s Foreign Ministry.