The state earned nearly 1.5 billion in USD revenue as a result of an increase in tourism taxes and departure fees from tourists.
According to the November tax collection report, the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) collected USD 1.3 billion by the end of the month.
This was a big increase compared to the previous year. In 2024, MIRA collected USD 1 billion over the entire year.
In December 2024, MIRA collected USD 100 million. So the USD revenue for 2025 is expected to be more than USD 1.4 billion after including December.
In addition to the revenue collected as taxes, the government also earns dollars through changes to the foreign exchange law and rules. By mid-2025, USD 362 million had been raised through foreign currency exchange.
Estimating that the government collected an equivalent amount in the last six months of 2025, USD 724 million will be raised from foreign currency exchange.
With this amount and the USD 1.4 billion collected by MIRA, the total dollar revenue is expected to be around USD 2 billion in 2025.
However, the dollar shortage problem has not been alleviated. The black market price of a dollar is still MVR 20 per dollar and the rate remained unchanged during the high season of tourism.
