Govt. slashes rice duty ahead of imports

The Government has decided to further reduce the existing tax on imported rice to Rs.5 from Rs.15 with effect from midnight yesterday.

On the advice of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake has taken this decision in order to provide urgent relief to the people, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.  The Special Commodity Levy has been reduced for imported varieties of brown raw rice, Nadu and Samba. However, the tax relief is not applied to Basmati varieties.

“The Government took this decision in response to the exploitation of consumers by certain unscrupulous traders who hoarded stocks and made fast money in the recent past,” the statement said. 

In December, the Government announced a decision to import 10,000 metric tonnes of rice as a means to prepare for potential rice shortages as a result of the ongoing drought. The Cabinet of ministers also granted approval to the private sector to import rice.