President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Thursday, ratified the 17th amendment to the Import Export Act of Maldives.
The amendment exempts export duty from all items that are not explicitely listened under the 3rd section of the Act, while reducing 50 percent of export duty from the Freight on Board (FOB) price charged from ambergris.
The state will also impose a 5 percent royalty from the FOB price of goods re-exported for business.
The amendment further reduces duties charged on goods imported from the regional ports of Addu City and Kulhudhuffushi City by 50 percent. A 50 percent cut will also be applied to goods imported via regional international airports across the country.
However, all goods must be stored in the same region as the point of entry in order for the reduction to remain applicable.
Energy drinks and tobacco products were also excluded from the amendment. during the committee stage. Instead, per litre duties on energy drinks were increased by MVR 60 while three percent of revenue from duties collected on tobacco products are to be donated to the public health fund.
According to suggestions by parliamentary representative for Male' City's Henveiru South constituency Hussain Shameem, import duties imposed on new vehicles, including cars, vans and jeeps, were limited to 100 percent while rates for second-hand vehicles were set at 200 percent.
Additional measures under the amendment include the reduction of duties charged for luxury cosmetics to five percent, slashing duties on perfume to ten percent and cutting duties on all types of batteries, excluding car batteries, to five percent.
A revenue fee of MVR 1 from every MVR 100 will be charged by the government from the price allocated by Maldives Customs Service for all imported, exported, or re-exported goods from the country.
As stipulated under the ratified act, starting from 2021, import of any goods declared by the President to as 'single-use plastics' will be prohibited.
The presidential Commission on Corruption and Asset Recovery turned in its preliminary report to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Thursday.
Following the handover, the commission held a news briefing to publicise its findings on the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) scandal, the largest corruption case in Maldives' history which saw millions in state funds, acquired through island and lagoon lease for tourism development, embezzled through the corporation.
Although reports previously compiled by the Auditor General's Office and the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) indicated that over MVR 1.3 billion were siphoned through MMPRC, The commission figures noted that the state suffered an actual loss of more than MVR 4 billion in acquisition costs.
Although the presidential commission has been investigating the MMPRC scandal for more than a year, the commission is yet to disclose details on any other case under investigation.
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