Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed has revealed that the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) has advised that it is currently a poor timing for the proposed hike on GST and TGST by the government.

The Bill which proposes to increase GST to 8 percent and TGST to 16 percent is currently being debated at the Whole House Committee at the Parliament. Differences of opinion have occurred between many lawmakers during the meetings of the committee these past two days.

As such, Speaker Nasheed had stated that he will summon relevant authorities for discussions even though the parliament regulation dictates that relevant authorities could not be presented to the committee for further research before the committee takes a vote. Speaker Nasheed stated that he will be presenting said authorities at today's meeting.

Speaker Nasheed announced during the start of today's parliament session that Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer will attend the committee at 9:40am, and that the Guesthouse Association of Maldives will also join the meeting today. He further revealed that MATI had sent in a letter advising that the timing was poor for the proposed hike in taxes.

MATI explained the reasoning behind their stand, noting that the industry has been working hard to deflect the affects of various factors that have been affecting the industry as a whole. MATI had also asked for a grace period of 12 months before the implementation of any changes to taxes.