India to cut financial aid to Maldives by 22%; Bhutan, Nepal to receive majority share

In the recent budget document released by the government on Thursday, India has proposed a 22% reduction in aid to the Maldives for the 2024-25 financial year. The Maldives now is slated to receive INR 600 crore for developmental assistance, ranking it as the third-highest recipient of aid from the government for foreign countries.

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It was also outlined that Bhutan and Nepal are slated to be the top two recipients of government grants. Bhutan is allocated INR 2068.56 crore for developmental assistance, while Nepal is earmarked INR 700 crore.

Several other countries are also witnessing decreases in their allocations for the 2024-25 fiscal, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and the Latin American nations. But surprisingly, budget allocations for Sri Lanka, African countries, Mauritius, and the Seychelles have seen increases.
Coming back to the Maldives, in the previous fiscal year (2023-24), the…