Price Of Cigarettes, Alcoholic Beverages To Soar As FG Raises Excise Duty

Alcohol consumers, smokers to pay more as FG raises tariff.

The Federal Government has approved an amendment to the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, PUNCH reports.

The approval, according to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, was given by President Muhammadu Buhari, and would take effect from Monday, June 4, 2018.

Adeosun, in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, said the President had also granted a grace period of 90 days (three months) to all local manufacturers before the commencement of the new excise duty regime.

However, she stated that there would be no increase in excise duty of other locally produced goods.

Adeosun stated 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 explained that Nigeria’s cumulative specific excise duty rate for tobacco was 23.2 per cent of the price of the most sold brand, as against 38.14 per cent in Algeria, 36.52 per cent in South Africa and 30 per cent in The Gambia.

According to her, the upward review of the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco is 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.

The minister added that the new excise duty regime was in line with the Economic Community of West African States’ directive on the harmonisation of member-states’ legislation on excise duties.

The ECOWAS Council of Ministers at its 62nd and 79th ordinary sessions in Abuja in May 2009 and December 2017, respectively, issued directives on the harmonisation of the member states’ legislation on excise duties.

The directives seek to harmonise member-states’ legislation on excise duties of non-oil products and stipulate the scope of application, rate of taxation, taxable event and amount.






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