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SMEs Promised Dollar Payments via BML, a Higher GST Threshold and an Addu Tax-Free Zone

President Mohamed Muizzu says the dollar payments start on 1 November and the tax changes on 1 January. He said the law changes needed are still under way.

By Maldives Today ·
President Mohamed Muizzu speaks at a wooden lectern in front of a blue Maldives Expo 2026 backdrop.
President Mohamed Muizzu speaking at the Maldives Expo 2026 awards ceremony in Malé on 24 October. (photo credit: President's Office)

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Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be able to receive payments in US dollars through the Bank of Maldives (BML) Gateway from 1 November, for sales made anywhere in the world, President Mohamed Muizzu said on 24 October.

He also said the turnover at which businesses must register for goods and services tax (GST) will rise from MVR1 million to MVR1.5 million on 1 January, according to the President’s Office’s account of the speech.

The President announced the measures at the Maldives Expo 2026 awards ceremony at Barceló Nasandhura in Malé. He said they would be introduced between November and January 2027.

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According to the President’s Office, the President said arrangements would be made so that dollars received through the BML Gateway could also be used to pay, by remittance, for goods and services bought from abroad.

He said dedicated tax-free zones for SMEs would start on 1 January, with a three-year pilot in Addu City. Businesses in the zone would pay no rent in the first year on land leased from the government and would be exempt from income tax. They would also get “an expansion of quotas from 20 to 30”. Neither the English nor the Dhivehi version of the release says which quota this is.

The President also said:

  • arrangements had been finalised to let SMEs offset money the government owes them against taxes they owe the state;
  • import duty on raw materials that SMEs import for production would be cut to zero from 1 January 2027;
  • the second phase of the youth loan scheme would start in November.

He said the legislative amendments needed to make the changes were under way. The President’s Office did not publish draft laws, eligibility rules or the definition of an SME that will apply. The Economic Ministry published the same English text on its website.

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The dollar measure comes as foreign currency stays tight. The Maldives Monetary Authority’s reserve data show official reserves of US$547.8 million at the end of September, down from US$643.8 million at the end of August and US$859.5 million a year earlier.

Since 1 October, BML has capped dollar cash withdrawals from its ATMs at US$3,500 a month per customer, as Maldives Today reported. The bank’s nine-month results showed the foreign currency it sold to customers in 2026 almost matching its total for all of 2025, Maldives Today reported on 10 October.

At the ceremony, the Economic Ministry said, 290 awards went to 130 winners. It said the exhibition received 4,434 product entries from 439 participants, and that individuals submitted 3,303 of them, or 74.5%.

Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed told the ceremony the President aims to grow the creative industry to 15% of gross domestic product by 2030, according to the ministry.

Maldives Expo 2026 is due to be officially opened on the evening of 25 October at Central Park in Hulhumalé and will run for nine days, according to the President’s Office. Its programme includes a new Visitor Economy District, as Maldives Today reported on 7 October.

The Record

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