P. K. Balachandran
“Mend fences with India and maintain ties with China to revive Maldives’ economy and protect its independence.”
The Maldivian economy is going through a bad patch even as there is political stability in the country. President Mohamed Muizzu is firmly on the saddle in Male and is duly propped up by a Majlis (Parliament) where his party, the Peoples’ National Congress (PNC), has a super majority.
Furthermore, there is no credible challenger, as rivals Ibrahim Solih, Abdulla Yameen and Mohamad Nasheed are now pale shadows of their former selves.
And yet, the Maldivian economy is showing strains, needing urgent infusion of foreign exchange and corrections in policies to avoid a debt trap, even a default.
Muizzu’s actions early in his tenure that were meant to implement some hyperbolic election promises, combined with the effects of some of the policies of his predecessors, caused economic problems.
Compelled to address the grave issues confronting the country, Muizzu made radical departures from policies he was identified with. Most strikingly, he shed his pronounced anti-India stance. But the remarkable thing is that he did this without alienating China, relations with which were exceptionally strong when Abdulla Yameen was in power from 2013 to 2018.
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