Bangladeshi Central Bank says it would issue a loan of MVR 3 billion to the Maldives.
This was reported in the Bangladeshi newspaper, The Business Standard. The paper reported that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had requested the loan during his visit to the country back in March.
It also said that the Bangladeshi foreign Ministry had now discussed the details of the potential loan with the top officials at the central bank.
The paper also reported that although the Maldives is yet to officially request the loan, the Bangladeshi side has essentially agreed to it. It also quoted Governor Fazle Kabir as saying that the Bangladesh Bank was capable of lending the amount to the Maldives.
If the loan goes through it would be the second time, Bangladesh is lending to a neighboring country after it had issued USD 200 million to debt-ridden Sri Lanka last July.
After the news of a loan from Bangladesh had broken, Finance Ministry had said that Bangladesh had first approached about the potential loan deal and that the Maldives initially wanted a currency swap deal but that it was Bangladesh who wanted to issue a loan to the Maldives.
