- MMA Governor Ahmed Munawar told Parliament's Budget Committee that only around 50 of the Maldives' 185 resorts pay income tax.
- Munawar urged MIRA to audit tourism accounts rather than focusing on small street shops, questioning whether other resorts truly operate without profit.
- He also called for closer monitoring of resorts' foreign currency earnings to ensure dollars circulate through the domestic banking system.
Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Governor Ahmed Munawar has called for closer scrutiny of resort accounts after telling Parliament’s Budget Committee that only around 50 of the country’s 185 resorts were paying income tax, based on information shared with the central bank.
Speaking to the committee on Tuesday, Governor Munawar questioned whether the other resorts were operating without a profit or whether their accounts warranted further examination. He urged the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) to extend its scrutiny to tourism businesses as part of its responsibility for tax compliance across sectors.
“They have to audit those accounts. They should not only go to the street shop. We need to ensure that our tourism accounts are accurate,” Munawar said.
Tourism is a major source of government revenue. Finance Ministry figures show that the government had collected MVR 9.32 billion in Tourism Goods and Services Tax (TGST), MVR 1.88 billion in green tax and MVR 1.66 billion in resort rent as of 29 October.
Corporate income tax receipts across all sectors, including tourism, stood at MVR 3.08 billion as of the same date, against a full-year estimate of MVR 3.2 billion.
Governor Munawar also called for closer monitoring of tourism businesses’ foreign currency earnings, saying that dollars kept outside the domestic banking system cannot circulate through it. His remarks come as authorities seek to increase foreign currency inflows under rules requiring tourism establishments to channel a portion of their earnings through local banks.
