The Whole House Committee of the Parliament of the Maldives has passed the amendment to the Import-Export Act to reduce import duty from items brought to regional ports.
The amendment bill to the Import-Export Act included 6 main amendments. The amendment to reduce import duty from items brought to regional ports in Addu City and Kulhudhuffushi City to 50% was proposed by Parliamentarian Ahmed Rasheed and endorsed by Parliamentarian Ibrahim Shareef. The amendment was passed by the Whole House Committee with votes from 54 parliamentarians. Meanwhile, the bill was passed as a whole by the committee with votes from 55 parliamentarians.
The amendment bill to the Import-Export Act was proposed by Parliamentarian Mohamed Visam with the objective of reducing import duty on items brought for the development of certain sectors, as part of efforts to increase production. Upon ratification, the bill would ease the import of items used across different fields of work.
Another objective of the bill was to discourage the use of items with health hazards, by increasing the import duty on such items. As such, the bill includes an amendment to increase import duty of cigarettes and alternatives to tobacco.