We are bound by world organisations to receive advice and assistance When inflation rises, prices of booze should be raised – Siyambalapitiya

Pic by Nimalsiri Edirisinghe

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana

As Sri Lanka is bound by world organisations in receiving advice and assistance to strengthen its state income, the prices of liquor should be increased accordingly when the inflation rises, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya opines.

“At present, we impose a tax of 61% on the price of a state-approved bottle of liquor. However, the standard in the world is to charge even more than 60% for liquor. We are in a severe struggle to control state expenses and increase its income, he said.

State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya made these remarks, addressing a special ceremony held to felicitate long-serving Sergeants and Sergeant Majors of the Department of Excise at its headquarters in Rajagiriya yesterday.

“From the price of a bottle of locally produced liquor, the manufacturer retains about 28% as cost and profit and two per cent for the bottle cost. We as the government impose tax up to 61% whilst the retailer gets a profit of 10%. But in the world standard, some countries advise increasing the government tax way more than 60%,” the Minister said.

“We understand that there is a practical problem of consumers moving towards illicit spirits, which is hazardous to the health, owing to the increasing prices of permitted spirits. But that doesn’t mean we have to control the price as it has to be raised according to the inflation going up.

When we receive advice and assistance from world organisations to recover from this difficult situation, we are bound by their regulations. Therefore, we have to look into other options for increasing the state revenue,” he said.
“When we increased the tax on liquor once, the liquor manufacturing companies increased their prices twice, and we had to increase the tax once again. It is not practical for us to ask all of your officials to commit to collecting more and more state revenue when consumption goes down owing to the increasing liquor prices. That is why all you Excise officials have to swim upstream to face this situation,” Minister Siyambalapitiya further said.
Over 50 Sergeants and Sergeant Majors who have served long at the department were felicitated by the Excise Sergeant and Sergeant Majors Association, which was also attended by senior officials including Excise Commissioner General Saman Jayasinghe and Additional Excise Commissioner General Kapila Kumarasinghe.