COLOMBO (Reuters) – The Maldives has “phased out” its brief engagement with U.S.-headquartered Centerview Partners on debt matters and will now focus on managing debt bilaterally, the deputy finance minister told Reuters.
Hassan Miras said the government had engaged Centerview to conduct an analysis of the island nation’s debt portfolio, but was now focused on managing debt repayments bilaterally.
He said it had also been holding talks with multilateral partners to get additional funding and that “appropriate fiscal adjustments” to help it manage debt would come in the budget in November.
The country’s dwindling foreign currency reserves sparked fears that it could become the first country to default on Islamic sovereign debt as it has a $500-million sukuk maturing in 2026.
(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; Writing by Libby George and Alison Williams)