Import taxes on select items cut

The Secretary of the Ministry of Cooperatives and Internal Trade yesterday announced that the government has reduced the import taxes for potato and big onion.

Ministry Secretary Anura Siriwardena said the decision to reduce the import duties was taken following a request from the President to take measures to reduce the rising cost of living.

Accordingly, the import tax for potato has been reduced to Rs. 10 per kilo from Rs. 30 per kilo earlier.

The import tax for big onion has also been reduced from Rs. 25 kilo earlier to Rs. 10 per kilo.

The government says the import taxes were imposed to sustain prices during the harvesting period of the local potato and big onion farmers. The measure curbed the influx of imported cheap potato and big onion in the local market.

The Government also cut import taxes on coconut oil to Rs. 15 per kilo or 15% whichever is higher, and tax on other vegetable oils cut by Rs. 10 per kilo from Rs. 35.