Data from Maldives Customs Service has revealed that over 48 million cigarettes were imported into Maldives in the first six months of this year.
A RTI request from Mihaaru uncovered that the import numbers of tobacco products saw a marked drop following the hike in import duties.
Last year, 76 million cigarettes were imported in to the Maldives. The figure had been exponentially higher in previous years, exceeding 338 million.
Cigarette import figures as per Customs data
- 2021: 345,123,496 cigarettes
- 2022: 356,755,492 cigarettes
- 2023: 349,887,124 cigarettes
- 2024: 338,083,260 cigarettes
- 2025: 76,214,347 cigarettes
Over a billion rufiya was paid as duty for these cigarettes.
Customs stated that 48,881,100 cigarettes have been imported between January and July this year.
The government has been taking several measures to encourage tobacco cessation. As such, the import duty on cigarettes was raised to MVR 8 from November 2024. The decision has since been reversed, and from last July onwards, the import duty has been reduced back to MVR 4.
