Chairman of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) Dr. Samadhi Rajapaksa said that cigarette prices are likely to be increased in Budget proposals for 2022.
Accordingly, increase by Rs.4 or Rs.5 per stick is expected in the budget 2022 and there could be an increase by Rs. 20 or Rs. 25 per stick over the next five years.
Dr. Rajapaksa said that this novel tax process has been formulated with the aid of the World Health Organization (WHO).
“This is the single most effective tobacco control measure that even the WHO recommends. So it could be expected that prices of cigarettes and other tobacco related products would go up. It has been proven that buying capacity of people will be reduced following increasing cigarette process. Also, Government revenue will go up as a result of this,” he said.
