Steep price hike in goods, services after VAT increase: NPP

By Ajith Siriwardana  

The prices of goods and services will go up by two to three times after the Value Added Tax (VAT) is increased upto 18 percent from January next year, further burdening the people, NPP MP Vijitha Herath said yesterday.  

He told a news conference that the government increased fuel prices too when the people have already been burdened with the rising cost of living.  
The MP said when the people were continuously burdened with electricity tariffs, fuel prices and the VAT, the government is planning to introduce new taxes from the 
upcoming budget.  

“The President for the last sixteen months has done nothing other than burdening the people more and more. No foreign loan has been cut down by a single Dollar. He has only created an economy where people cannot live, by dancing to the tune of the IMF,” he said.  

The MP said there is no move within site to earn state revenue by increasing the Gross domestic product (GDP).  

“Ranil-Rajapaksa rule has further proved that this economic model is an utter failure and that they cannot resolve the issues faced by the country,” he said.