The strategically-placed Indian Ocean nation of the Maldives, which has borrowed heavily from China and shifted allegiance from India, is at high risk of "debt distress," the IMF warned Wednesday.

Pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu’s predecessor, former president Abdulla Yameen, who ruled for five years until 2018, borrowed heavily from Beijing for construction projects.

That left it owing 42 percent of its more than $3 billion foreign debt to China in 2021, according to the World Bank, citing the Maldives’ finance ministry.