Debt-for-nature swap for Sukuk

MALDIVES: Further highlighting its struggles to ensure enough foreign currency reserves would be available to repay its sovereign US$500 million Sukuk maturing in 2026, the Maldives is working on a debt-for-nature swap, reported Reuters. Minister of Climate Change, Environment and Energy said an agreement was inked with The Nature Conservancy – a group involved in a number of debt swaps, from Indonesia to Belize. Based on World Bank data, the total public and publicly guaranteed debt for the Maldives stood at US$8.2 billion, equivalent to 116% of GDP, in the first quarter of this year – with US$1.37 billion and US$124 million owed to China and India respectively.