Speaker of the Parliament, former President Mohamed Nasheed, has said that the debt to foreign countries are calculated with the Sovereign Guarantee given to the loan.

Nasheed made the statement via Twitter after the Chinese Ambassador denied that the Maldivian government has to pay USD 3.4 billion to China for projects contracted during the Presidency of Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

In his Tweet, Nasheed said that the total foreign debt includes the active sovereign guaranteed debt and not just the Government to Government loans. He said that the extent of Maldives sovereign guarantees to Chinese banks are at alarming levels.

The current administration has repeatedly criticized the previous administration due to the high debt to China.

And so, speaking at the Annual Conference of the Indina Think Tank, former President Nasheed said that the Maldivian debt to China is at USD 3.4 billion.