‘Govt. will recover Rs.235 bn lost from tax concessions and import duty on sugar’

Government will recover the Rs. 235 billion it had lost by the wavering of taxes including the reduction of import duty of sugar, State Minister of Finance, Money, Capital Markets Ajith Nivard Cabraal told Parliament yesterday.

Making a special statement on the alleged sugar scam, the State Minister said the government had reduced several taxes and import duty of many items and had lost a total revenue of Rs 235 billion since 2020.

“We have reduced import duty of big onions and have lost a revenue of 5.1 billion, Rs 400 million as a result of reduction of import duty of dhall, Rs 17 billion as a result of reduction of import duty for canned fish. Government has also lost a sum of 51 billion as a reduction of NBT and Rs 34 billion as a reduction of VAT. Government had lost a total revenue of Rs 235 billion,” the State Minister said. “However we have managed to save Rs 283 billion as a result of cutting the interest rates,” he added. “Any government changes its economic policy from time to time. The previous government increased the VAT and we reduced it. Economic policy changes from time to time depending on the situation. When it comes to the reduction of import duty for sugar from Rs 50 to cents 25, it was done totally to provide a concession to the Government. Import duty of sugar and a number of other essential commodities were reduced to provide concessions to the people,” he also said. “Government has also allocated Rs 50 billion to provide COVID- 19 vaccine,” he said.