No chance of Govt. reducing liquor prices: Finance State Min.

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  

Refuting recently circulated claims, the State Minister of Finance said there is no way the government is going to reduce liquor prices in the near future.  

State Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya speaking at Parliament said there were reports on social media about a move to reduce the price of alcoholic drinks.  
“I should say that there is no such move. Government is not in a position to reduce the prices of alcoholic drinks because of the tax policy. The concept followed with regard to alcoholic drinks is that the percentage of tax levied on such drinks should be equal to the inflation rate. This is the policy which we intend to follow,” the Minister said.  

The State Minister said the production of alcoholic drinks have gone down during the Sinhala Tamil new year. “Production of alcoholic drinks increases by 60 percent usually during the Sinhala Tamil new year. However it has increased by 20 percent this year,” he added.  

Further the State Minister said the government had taken a policy decision to charge a two rupee tax on each Beedi stick and a 90 percent tax on non filter cigarettes.