The Government of the Maldives has signed a finance agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to receive a concessional loan of 18.4 million euros to finance the COVID-19 Health Facility Project, and establish a national health laboratory and develop isolation facilities.
The agreement was signed by Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer and Director of Global Partners at EIB Maria Shaw at a ceremony held in Brussels, Belgium, at the European Development Days (EDD) event. The Maldives COVID-19 Health Facility Project was formulated under the EIB’s South Asia Public Healthcare COVID-19 Programme Loan introduced in 2021.
The finance ministry stated it is a highly concessional loan and the proceeds of this loan will be utilised to establish a modern national health laboratory and develop 18 isolation facilities in the atolls, which will improve the country’s resilience to COVID-19 and potential future pandemic. The project will enhance the current capacity of the health centres and improve the critical analytical capabilities for infectious disease prevention, controlling, monitoring, and improve food and pharmaceutical safety in the country. Furthermore, the project will allow modernisation and decentralisation of the national healthcare system in the Maldives.
Additionally, the government has recently signed an agreement with the ABN AMRO Bank, the AKA European Export Trade Bank, and the ING Bank to acquire a loan facility for an amount of approximately 101 million euros for the purpose of financing the Gulhifalhu Reclamation Project - Phase II.