The Maldives government received MVR 1.7 million during the first month after a mandatory Plastic Bag Fee was imposed on all single-use plastic bags.

The amendment to the Waste Management Act came into effect on April 18, where a Plastic Bag Fee is collected by businesses operating in the Maldives on plastic bags provided free of charge or sold at the point of sale. The act states that each bag must be charged at the rate of MVR 2 and that the fee must be paid to MIRA.

As per the latest Monthly Revenue Collection statistics released by MIRA, the government received MVR 1.7 million as Plastic Bag Fee by last month.

According to the statistics, MVR 1.71 billion was received as the total revenue in May, with the dollar revenue standing at MVR 72.78 million. This marks a 30 percent increase in comparison to the same period last year. It is also a 1.8 percent increase in the estimated revenue for the month.

MIRA noted that the increase in revenue is largely contributed by the revenue generated by the increase in GST and TGST this year. In addition to this, the Departure Tax and Airport Tax have also seen an increase due to the increased number of tourist arrivals.