Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) has stated it collected over USD 64 million as revenue in the second quarter of 2020.
As per the statistics published by MIRA, the revenue received in the second quarter of this year was 75.1 percent lower in comparison to the same period of last year. In the second quarter of last year, MIRA received over USD 259 million.
MIRA said the decrement was due to the closure of MIRA amid the COVID-19 lockdown and the decision to delay deadlines for tax and non-tax payments. MIRA added the revenue from Tourism Goods and Services Tax (TGST), Green Tax and Tourism Land Rent steeply declined as a result of the pandemic.
Due to lockdowns and restrictions imposed as a measure to contain the spread of COVID-10, the tourism sector experienced a complete halt. Therefore, to ease the businesses in the sector, Ministry of Tourism deferred the payment of lease rent of resorts for the third and fourth quarters of 2020 until June 2021.