Business

Parliamentary resolution calls for price control of goods and services in Ramadan

Published

2 months ago

20/03/2023

Maduvvari MP and opposition People’s National Congress’ (PNC) parliamentary group leader Adam Shareef Umar, on Monday, submitted a resolution to the parliament that calls upon the government to control the prices of goods and services during the month of Ramadan.

MP Adam Shareef’s resolution states that the prices of Maldivians’ staple food products have been increased by seven percent following the hike in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in January. It was also noted that prices increased by 7.82 percent last year, while inflation rose by 75 percent.

The resolution, referring to statistics publicized by the National Bureau of Statistics, said prices of eateries had increased by 4.3 percent.

Statistics publicized by the National Bureau of Statistics show that food prices increased the most between last year’s January and this year’s January. As per the authority, the prices of food products increased by 7.82 percent during this period.

MP Shareef, in his resolution, emphasized that most people have no avenue to increase their income while living expenses continue to gradually rise. He also alleged an increase in payable monies to the government in the guise of fines and others as the public brave through these difficult times.

Therewith, he called on the government to revise the GST rates which was increased and urged state-owned companies to decrease the prices of the services they provide. He also called on the government to control the prices of goods that have plunged above reach for the public, and make arrangements to ensure price control during the month of Ramadan.

Source(s): sun.mv

Business

G7 finance chiefs address global economic uncertainty as U.S. debt crisis looms

Published

3 weeks ago

13/05/2023

NIIGATA, Japan, May 13 (Xinhua) — Group of Seven (G7) finance chiefs on Saturday warned of heightened uncertainty and vowed to take actions to ensure financial stability amid concerns following U.S. bank failures.

In a joint statement issued after their meeting in the Japanese city of Niigata, the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors said they “need to remain vigilant and stay agile and flexible in our macroeconomic policy amid heightened uncertainty about the global economic outlook.”

The three-day gathering that concluded on Saturday was overshadowed by concerns about the U.S. debt ceiling deadlock, which was made no mention of the statement.

“We will continue to work closely with supervisory and regulatory authorities to monitor financial sector developments and stand ready to take appropriate actions to maintain financial stability and the resilience of the global financial system,” said the statement.

G7 central bank chiefs also vowed to fight elevated inflation and ensure inflation expectations remain well anchored, according to the joint statement.

The Japanese central bank will persist with monetary easing because inflation, currently above its target, will start to slow later this year, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda, who took the helm in April, was quoted as saying at the G7 gathering by national news agency Kyodo on Saturday.

The meeting was held in the runup to the G7 leaders’ summit in Hiroshima from May 19 to May 21.

Source(s): Xinhua

Business

Over 10 bln USD of investment signed at central China RCEP expo

Published

3 weeks ago

09/05/2023

CHANGSHA, May 8 (Xinhua) — A total of 113 projects with a combined investment of about 75 billion yuan (10.84 billion U.S. dollars) were signed during a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) economic and trade expo held in central China’s Hunan Province.

The event that kicked off on May 4 in the province’s Huaihua City has served as a new platform for exchanges and cooperation between RCEP member countries and China’s provincial-level regions along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, which is a trade and logistics passage jointly built by provincial-level regions in western China and ASEAN members, according to the organizer.

The four-day expo attracted over 600 renowned enterprises and more than 1,000 purchasers from home and abroad, including 112 companies from 14 other RCEP member countries.

With diversified offline and online activities, the expo had more than 2,000 varieties of featured products from RCEP member countries on display in the city’s international convention center.

Huaihua is the province’s only node city along the corridor and a freight assembly center for ASEAN countries.

Source(s): Xinhua

Business

Maldives records USD millions increase in tax revenue

Published

1 month ago

27/04/2023

Ministry of Finance has revealed that the state has recorded an increase of USD130 million in tax revenue collected so far in 2023.

Thee Weekly Fiscal Developments report shows that the tax revenue increased after the government hiked the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 6% to 8% and the Tourism Goods and Services Tax (TGST) from 12% to 16% at the start of the year. The report shows that the state received USD629 million in revenue as of April 13. Around USD473 million was collected in tax revenue, which is a significant increase compared to the USD376 million collected in the same period last year. The report also shows that USD273 million was collected in GST and USD104 million was collected in TGST.

Additionally, the state collected USD156 million in non-tax revenue, which is an increase compared to the USD128 million collected in the same period last year. Meanwhile, the expenditure has reached USD824 million, which is also an increase compared to the USD681 million in expenditure recorded in the same period last year. Around USD564 million went to recurrent expenditures, USD253 million went to capital expenditure, and USD188 million went to infrastructure assets.

Source(s): psm news