Goods worth MVR 21.2 billion were imported to the Maldives between January – September.

Speaking on RaajjeTV’s ‘Fala Surukhee’ programme, Commissioner General of Customs, Abdulla Shareef revealed that goods worth MVR 30.8 billion were imported to the island nation within the same period last year in comparison to which customs saw a 32 percent decrease this year.

Shareef stressed that this decline was most likely caused by the impacts of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Further, the Commissioner General revealed that goods worth MVR 12.5 million were imported to the island nation from June to September 2019 and the amount saw a drastic decline within the same period this year, at MVR 7.5 million.

From June – September 2019, goods worth MVR 442 million were exported from the Maldives whereas the amount of goods exported within the same period this year amounted to MVR 616 million.

Highlighting that goods worth MVR 1.8 billion was exported from January – September 2020, Shareef stated that the figure was recorded at MVR 1.6 billion the previous year.

In this regard, Shareef noted that the average value for exported goods saw a 10 percent decline.

During January – September last year, Maldives Customs collected a total revenue of MVR 2.4 billion through import-export duties whereas the figure dropped by 26 percent, to MVR 1.8 billion during the ongoing year.

While the duties collected from June – September 2019 was recorded at one billion, MVR 650 million was collected in duties this year.

Further, Shareef added that customs had declared over 164 million forms which saw a 42 percent decline this year, to 95,000 forms.