Published analysis
Read the full article on Maldives News: Six weeks and a doubling: how policy is now made in the Maldives
Standfirst. A tax passed on Sunday for October, and a doubling announced on Monday, in a sector that contracts a season ahead.
Key facts
- The offshore GST amendment, submitted 15 August, passed the Majlis on 23 August by 54 votes to 2 of 57 present, and is slated to take effect 1 October 2026: six weeks from passage, in a sector that contracts a season ahead.
- On 24 August the MMA Governor announced at the President’s Office that mandatory conversion for resorts would be doubled from the proposed 20 percent to 40 percent of sales, compliance shortened to monthly, with 100 percent named as the eventual goal; MATI’s stated position is that any mandate should not exceed 10 percent.
- The MMA’s 23 August compliance report puts average resort conversion compliance at 78.55 percent (October 2024 to April 2026); five of 183 registered resorts converted nothing, while 37.6 percent of 625 guesthouses, city hotels and safari vessels converted nothing.
- The MMA says the share of tourism revenue entering the banking system rose from 50 percent (2021-24) to 65 percent (2025) to 73 percent by June 2026; the Governor said 56 percent of dollars converted to the MMA went to state debt repayment, and USD 608.6m of reserves went to government external debt service in H1 2026, up 202 percent.
- The street rate stood at 23.00 on 24 August against the 15.42 peg, a 49 percent gap, up from 21.75 on 5 August despite surplus liquidity falling 39 percent in a year (MVR 7bn to 4.3bn); reserves were USD 638m in July against a forecast current account deficit of USD 627.7m.
- Arrivals are down 4.4 percent so far this year and first-half receipts fell from USD 3.1bn to USD 2.8bn; commercial banks hold 58 percent of rufiyaa T-bills outstanding at yields unchanged since 2015.
Signals & links
FX Regulation · TGST · Dollar Shortage · Maldives Monetary Authority · Resorts · Tourism Industry · Peoples Majlis