Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has approved an amendment to the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco that would see the prices of the two sort-after commodities rise with effect from June 4, 2018.
Premium Times reported this as part of a statement released in Abuja on Sunday, March 11, by Kemi Adeosun, the finance minance.
The statement said the new excise duty rates were spread over a three-year period from 2018 to 2020 in order to moderate the impact on prices of the products adding that the regimes followed all-inclusive stakeholder engagements by the tariff technical committee of the finance ministry.
Adeosun said the upward review of the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco was for a dual benefit of raising the government’s fiscal revenues and reducing the health hazards associated with tobacco-related diseases and alcohol abuse.
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“The Tariff Technical Committee (TCC) recommended the slight adjustment in the excise duty charges after cautious considerations of the government’s fiscal policy measures for 2018 and the reports of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund Technical Assistance Mission on Nigeria’s fiscal policy.
“The effect of the excise duty rates adjustment on trade and investment was also assessed by the federal ministry of trade and investment and it adopted the recommendations of the TTC.
“Furthermore, peer country comparisons were also carried out showing Nigeria as being behind the curve in the review of excise duty rates on alcoholic beverages and tobacco.
“For alcoholic beverages, the current ad-valorem rate will be replaced with specific rates and spread over three years to moderate the impact on prices,” she said.
“This will curb the discretion in the Unit Cost Analysis (UCA) for determining the ad-valorem rate and prevent revenue leakages.
“For tobacco, the government will maintain the current ad-valorem rate of 20 per cent and introduce additional specific rates with the implementation to be spread over a three-year period to also reasonably reduce the impact on prices,” the statement said.
According to the statement, each stick of cigarette will attract a N1 specific rate (N20 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2018; N2 specific rate per stick (N40 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2019; and N2.90k specific rate per stick (N58 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2020.
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Also, the new specific excise duty rate for alcoholic beverages shows that beer and stout would attract N0.30k per centiliter (Cl) in 2018 and N0.35k per Cl each in 2019 and 2020.
The report said wines would attract N1.25k per Cl in 2018 and N1.50k per Cl each in 2019 and 2020, while N1.50k per Cl was approved for Spirits in 2018, N1.75k per Cl in 2019 and N2.00k per Cl in 2020.
Source: Naija.ng