The Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Bank of Maldives, Mohamed Shareef, has assured the public that customers’ dollar deposits have not been used to settle government debt.
He made the remarks during an interview on a programme aired by PSM News.
The government recently announced that it had repaid USD 974 million in sukuk, swaps and loans within the past 40 days. Following the announcement, some individuals alleged that the repayments had been made using funds deposited by bank customers.
Responding to the claims, Shareef described the allegations as false and stressed that safeguarding customer funds remains the bank’s highest priority. He noted that around 70 per cent of bank deposits have been utilised to provide loans and affirmed that no customer funds had been allocated towards government borrowing.
“I can guarantee that the bank is being operated in accordance with banking rules and regulations while protecting customer deposits. These funds have been used to provide loans to independent parties, with the majority of dollar financing directed towards the tourism sector. Our dollar loan portfolio shows that nearly USD 600 million has been disbursed for tourism. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, we disbursed USD 35 million, and we continue to invest in the tourism industry,” Shareef said.
In April, the government successfully repaid the USD 500 million sukuk raised on the international market in 2021. The Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises stated that the sukuk was settled through a combination of funds from the Sovereign Development Fund (SDF) and state reserves.
The SDF is financed through revenue collected from departure and airport development taxes. According to the government, the fund’s foreign currency balance has now exceeded USD 350 million. Meanwhile, the Maldives’ official reserves reached USD 1.3 billion in March, marking a historic high for the country’s finances.