To reduce the environmental damage caused by plastic, a fee of 2 rufiyaa has been imposed on single-use plastic bags starting from April 2023. One of the main purposes of this is to reduce the amount of plastic imported. The positive results of this are now becoming evident. According to the 2024 Annual Report of the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA), with the introduction of the fee on plastic bags, the import of plastic bags to the Maldives is declining. This is evident from the amount of revenue collected by MIRA.
Last year, MIRA collected 9.19 million rufiyaa as fees from plastic bags. This is 0.3% lower than the estimated revenue. MIRA had estimated to receive 9.22 million rufiyaa. In 2023, MIRA received 12.66 million rufiyaa as fees from plastic bags. Therefore, the revenue received in 2024 is 27.4% lower compared to 2023.
The revenue from plastic bag fees is estimated based on the assumption that the use of plastic bags will decrease year by year. As such, the revenue collected in 2024 has decreased compared to the estimated revenue. The plastic bag fee is a fee of 2 rufiyaa imposed on plastic bags sold at the point of sale under the Waste Management Act, collected from parties registered for GST under the Regulation on Collecting Fees from Plastic Bags. This regulation came into effect on April 18, 2023.
According to MIRA’s 2024 Annual Report, the amount reported as plastic bag fees by GST-registered entities last year is 28.8% lower compared to the previous year.”
