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Economy

Maldives' new president set to take office as debt alarms intensify

World Bank, Fitch greet Muizzu with grim warnings on bills due in next few years

Mohamed Muizzu, the Maldives' president-elect, will inherit a heavy sovereign debt burden when he takes office on Nov. 17.   © Reuters

MALE -- When the Maldives' President-elect Mohamed Muizzu takes office on Nov. 17, he will immediately face a rising tide of warnings on the risk of a debt crisis in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

The World Bank was among the latest to sound the alarm over the South Asian nation's ballooning foreign debt payments. Barely a week after Muizzu won the Sept. 30 presidential runoff against incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the bank pointed out that by 2026, the $5.4 billion Maldivian economy will have to service a record $1.07 billion in external debt.

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