Hi, I'm Viyu. Ask me about the stories collected here. I answer only from them, with numbered links to the outlets that published them, and I say so when they do not cover it.
Maldives Cuts Cigarette Import Duty, Reversing 2024 Hike as Debate Over Tobacco Policy Widens
President Dr Mohamed Muizzu ratified the 20th Amendment to the Export-Import Act, cutting the specific cigarette import duty from MVR 8 to MVR 4 per stick and the ad valorem duty from 50 percent to 30 percent, reversing part of a 2024 tobacco-control hike. The government frames the change as a recalibration paired with cessation programmes, while opposition MPs and analysts question the process and evidence.
Sources1carried itMN1 of 19 news outlets we monitor
Figures7as written, with their sentences
One outlet so far Only Maldives News Network has reported this among the sources we monitor. A gap in what we monitor, not proof that others did not report it.
Who said what
the reports' own quoted words, each once
the 2024 policy had caused lasting social and economic harm
Nothing to compare yet. If another monitored source reports it, its headline appears beside this one.
Figures in these reports
as written, with the sentence they come from
30 percentAd valorem import duty (new rate)Maldives News Networkis set at MVR 4 per stick, with an ad valorem duty of 30 percent. This cuts the specific duty in half from the MVR 8 per stick introduced in late 2024 and lowers the ad valorem rate from 50 percent.
Word for word from the report in Maldives News Network. Open the report
MVR 8 per stickSpecific import duty on cigarettes (previous rate)Maldives News NetworkThis cuts the specific duty in half from the MVR 8 per stick introduced in late 2024 and lowers the ad valorem rate from 50 percent.
Word for word from the report in Maldives News Network. Open the report
50 percentAd valorem import duty (previous rate)Maldives News Networklowers the ad valorem rate from 50 percent
Word for word from the report in Maldives News Network. Open the report
MVR 3Specific cigarette duty before 2024 increaseMaldives News Networkthe government doubled the specific cigarette duty from MVR 3 to MVR 8
Word for word from the report in Maldives News Network. Open the report
around MVR 250Estimated retail price of a pack before duty cutMaldives News NetworkOfficials estimate the change will bring the retail price of a pack down from around MVR 250 to roughly MVR 125.
Word for word from the report in Maldives News Network. Open the report
roughly MVR 125Estimated retail price of a pack after duty cutMaldives News NetworkOfficials estimate the change will bring the retail price of a pack down from around MVR 250 to roughly MVR 125.
Word for word from the report in Maldives News Network. Open the report
77.5 percentFall in cigarette importsMaldives News NetworkAccording to figures cited in the bill's annex, cigarette imports fell 77.5 percent in 2025 compared with 2024.
Word for word from the report in Maldives News Network. Open the report
Other events named
no clear day, as worded
Government doubled specific cigarette duty, banned import and use of vapes, and advanced a generational sales ban for those born on or after 1 January 20072024 and laterMaldivesMaldives News NetworkIn 2024, the government doubled the specific cigarette duty from MVR 3 to MVR 8, banned the import and use of vapes, and later advanced a generational sales ban prohibiting anyone born on or after 1 January 2007 from buying tobacco.
Word for word from the report in Maldives News Network. Open the report
Muizzu received a special award from the WHO on World No Tobacco Day and was named on TIME's list of most influential people in health2025internationalMaldives News Networkincluding a special award from the World Health Organization on World No Tobacco Day 2025 and a place on TIME magazine’s 2025 list of the most influential people in health.
Word for word from the report in Maldives News Network. Open the report
