POLICE in the Maldives are investigating an alleged attempt to topple President Mohamed Muizzu by stirring anger over the Indian Ocean archipelago’s worsening financial woes.
Last week, the main commercial bank in the upmarket tourist destination drastically reduced the foreign exchange spending allowed for Maldivians, sparking widespread anger.
Muizzu has slammed the move as an “illegal attempt” to overthrow his government, by making him unpopular and encouraging street protests.
“An investigation has been launched into the alleged coup attempt,” the police said in a statement late Monday.
There have been no demonstrations in the capital Male, but scathing criticism of the government has erupted online.
“Hundreds of ‘bot’ accounts have been used on social media to encourage people to take to the streets to overthrow the government and incite public unrest,” police said.
The bank said the changes, which they have since rescinded, came “in response to the escalating usage of foreign currency spend on cards and the static sale of foreign currency to the Bank”.
The international credit rating agency Fitch downgraded the Maldives in June and warned it could be headed for a sovereign default, after its foreign currency reserves dropped to $492 million in May.
The downgrade came weeks after the IMF warned the Maldives against a looming “debt distress”, as the small but strategically placed country eyes further borrowing from main creditor China.
Official data showed the Maldives’ foreign debt reaching $4.038 billion last year, about 118 percent of gross domestic product, an increase of nearly $250 million from 2022.
Fitch had noted the government’s debt servicing obligations, amounting to $409 million this year, would add to severe stress.
