Indian Budget 2024: The Indian government has made a big cut in the grant assistance given to Maldives in Budget 2024, after which Muizzu’s country has gone to third place in terms of getting grant money from India. India presented its budget for the year 2024-2025 on Tuesday, in which the amount of aid given to Maldives has been reduced. In the budget presented in Parliament on February 1 before the elections, US $ 72 million was allocated as aid to Maldives.
In the first budget of the third term of the Modi government, the grant amount to Maldives has been reduced and only 48 million US dollars have been allocated. The reduction in the aid amount to Maldives is being seen as a response to Muizzu’s pro-China policies. According to the initial budget proposed in the Parliament, Maldives would have been the second largest country to receive aid from India, but this time India will give the maximum aid to Nepal and Bhutan.
Last year, $92.9 million was given to Maldives
In the last fiscal year’s budget, US $ 48.1 million was allocated to Maldives as grant aid, while after the amendment it was increased to US $ 92.9 million. India had given $ 22 million to Maldives as grant aid last year. This reduction in grant aid has been done due to the large scale development work being done by India in Maldives.
India is operating these projects in Maldives
India is currently constructing the Thilamale Bridge project, Hamimadhoo International Airport project and flats in Hulhumale by two Indian companies inside the Maldives. The Thilamale Bridge project was built with a grant assistance of US $ 100 million from the Government of India. Apart from this, other projects were financed by taking loans from Exim Bank of India. Now, if India reduces the grant amount, the pace of projects going on inside the Maldives may slow down.
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