Bank of Maldives CEO and Managing Director Mohamed Shareef has rejected claims that customer dollar deposits held at the bank were used to settle government debt obligations.
Speaking during PSM News’ “Raajje Miadhu” programme, Shareef described the allegations as completely false and stressed that protecting customer deposits remains the bank’s top priority.
The remarks come after the government recently announced that it had successfully repaid USD 974 million in external obligations over the past 40 days, including sukuks, swaps and loans. Following the announcement, speculation emerged alleging that customer-held foreign currency at BML had been used to support the repayments.
Responding to those claims, Shareef said the bank has not released customer dollars to provide loans to the government.
“I want to assure everyone that our bank operates in strict compliance with banking regulations while safeguarding customer deposits,” he said.
According to Shareef, approximately 70 percent of the bank’s deposits are utilized for financing loans, primarily to the private sector. He noted that BML’s foreign currency lending portfolio is heavily focused on the tourism industry.
“Our dollar loan portfolio in the tourism sector currently stands at close to USD 600 million,” he said, adding that the bank disbursed an additional USD 35 million in tourism-related loans during the first quarter of this year alone.
Shareef also emphasized that BML continues to invest heavily in the tourism sector, which remains one of the main pillars of the Maldivian economy.
In April, the government settled the USD 500 million sovereign sukuk issued to international financial markets in 2021. The Ministry of Finance and Planning previously stated that the repayment was made using funds from the Sovereign Development Fund (SDF) together with state reserves.
The SDF is financed through revenues collected from Airport Development Fees and Departure Taxes.
According to official figures released by the government, the SDF’s foreign currency holdings recently surpassed USD 350 million for the first time, while the Maldives’ official reserves rose to USD 1.3 billion by the end of March, marking the highest reserve level recorded in the country’s history.
