The Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) has revealed that the state has collected a revenue of USD300,000 from plastic bag fees in the last four months.
The latest statistics released by MIRA show that USD300,000 has been collected from plastic bags in the last four months in April, the highest amount so far this year. Revenue from plastic bag fees include, USD91,000 in January, USD500,000 in February and USD46,000 in March.
The plastic bag fee came into effect on April 18 under the Waste Management Act. Every business activity operating in the Maldives was required to charge a fee of USD0.13 as a plastic bag fee. It resulted in a huge price hike for plastic bag bundles, which has risen from USD1.6 per bundle with 100 plastic bags to USD15. If the seller of plastic bags is registered for Goods and Services Tax (GST), they must also apply GST to the plastic bag price.
The government introduced an amendment to the Waste Management Act in the Parliament of the Maldives, suggesting a reduced charge of USD0.03 for bags instead of the initially proposed USD0.13 in response to public concerns. In addition, the bill proposes that fees for bags used to carry raw fish products or for waste disposal should be exempted and it aims to revise the fee collection system to reduce administrative burdens on retail shops and cafes.