The Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) should not limit its checks to small corner shops but must also audit resorts to help resolve the country’s dollar shortage, Governor of the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Ahmed Munawar has said.
The Governor made the remarks today at the People’s Majlis budget committee, in response to a question from Hulhumalé South MP Dr Ahmed Shamheed on the difficulty of obtaining dollars.
He said that while the tourism industry earns around USD 5.9 billion a year, only USD 3.8 billion of that enters the Maldivian banking system.
Although collecting business profit tax is MIRA’s responsibility, the Governor noted that many resorts do not pay it.
“According to figures shared with us by MIRA, only about 50 of 185 resorts pay income tax. Only around 50 resorts pay income tax. What does that mean? Either they are not making a profit, or there are some issues,” he said.
“So don’t they need to be audited? Their accounts need to be audited. MIRA shouldn’t only be going to corner shops. We also need to check whether the accounts in our tourism sector are in order.”
The Governor said that if every dollar earned by the Maldives entered the local banking system, it would be enough to meet the public’s needs. He said the MMA is closely monitoring this and will tighten its efforts next year to make sure every dollar goes through local banks.
However, he cautioned that solving the dollar shortage cannot be done overnight.
The MMA also advised the committee to target subsidies at those who need them and to speed up renewable energy projects, to reduce the impact of global oil price changes on the state budget.
