Tourism Goods and Services Tax (T-GST) revenue has declined by 7.5 percent during the first two months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to statistics published by the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA).
The government collected MVR 1.9 billion in T-GST during January and February, down from MVR 2.1 billion in the first two months of last year.
The significant drop was primarily driven by February's performance, which saw T-GST revenue fell by 20 percent.
Last month, only MVR 919 million was collected, compared to MVR 1.1 billion in February of the previous year. This decline coincided with a 1.5 percent decrease in tourist arrivals, with 214,000 tourists visiting Maldives in February.
Despite the overall decline, January showed positive performance with a 10 percent increase in T-GST revenue compared to January last year.
The government collected MVR one billion in January 2025, up from MVR 944 million in January 2024.
The government plans to increase the T-GST rate from 16 percent to 17 percent starting July this year. Meanwhile, previously announced increases to green tax and airport development fee have already been implemented.
While tax revenue decreased to MVR 4.9 billion in the first two months of 2025 (compared to MVR 5.4 billion last year), non-tax revenue increased by approximately 50 percent to MVR 904 million.
The majority of this came from lease extension fees and airport development fees, which together contributed MVR 521 million.
In total, the state's revenue for the first two months of 2025 stands at MVR 5.9 billion, which is MVR 152 million less than the same period last year.
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