Revenue drop, MPs' insurance and imminent retirement
News in brief from Monday, February 17.
17 Feb, 11:59 PM
Maldives Independent
A sharp drop in customs revenue this year was down to importers stockpiling cigarettes ahead of a tariff hike in November, Deputy Speaker Nazim suggested at a committee meeting. Import duties from cigarettes are the biggest source of revenue for customs but businesses have yet to resume shipments in normal quantities “because they haven’t run out of the huge stocks they imported” under the old tariffs, he explained.
MPs complained about difficulties in health insurance coverage for medical treatment sought overseas. An authorisation letter from Allied Insurance to consult a specialist does not cover further consultations with other doctors, for which they must pay out of pocket and seek reimbursement through a cumbersome process, MPs said.
Chief Justice Muthasim Adnan indicated his imminent retirement. “I am now an elderly person. It is a possibility that you won’t see me again in this capacity at such a function as this,” he was quoted as saying at the bar admission closing ceremony.
A new 1.8 megawatt generator will be sent to Addu City to resolve persistent power cuts in the southernmost atoll, Fenaka Corporation assured.
More than 130 cartons of cigarettes were stolen from a Euro Store warehouse in Fuvahmulah, police told the media.
As pledged by the president, an additional foreign transaction limit of US$ 1,500 on debit cards was arranged for Maldivians traveling for the Umra pilgrimage in Ramadan.
Nine people, including three Maldivians and six foreigners, were arrested from an uninhabited island in a counter-narcotics operation with more than 160 bottles of alcohol and 12.8 grams of drugs.
Parliament confirmed the president’s appointees as the heads of the Elections Commission and Anti-Corruption Commission. Mohamed Zahid and Abdul Rahman Salah were approved as the president and vice president, respectively, of the five-member electoral body.