Nigerians To Pay More For Cigarettes, Alcohol Now

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Consumers of alcoholic beverages and tobacco will from today (Monday) pay more for the products as the new excise duty rates approved by President Muhammadu Buhari in March come into effect.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, disclosed this in Abuja on Sunday.

She explained that 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.

The minister had stated in March that the President had granted a grace period of 90 days to all manufacturers before the commencement of the new excise duty regime in that sector of the economy. The grace period ended on Sunday.

Adeosun stated that the new excise duty regime followed all-inclusive stakeholder engagements by the Tariff Technical Committee of the Federal Ministry of Finance with key industry stakeholders.

She noted that the upward review of the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco was to achieve a dual benefit of raising the government’s fiscal revenues and reducing the health hazards associated with tobacco-related diseases and alcohol abuse.

She said, “The Tariff Technical Committee 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’s 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 Industry, 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.”