Price of beverages, sweetened drinks to go up, as Nigerian govt implements N10/litre sugar tax

The Federal Government has revealed that it has started the implementation of a N10 per litre sugar tax on carbonated sugar drinks and beverages which it said would help combat Non-communicable Diseases.

This is coming despite pleas by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) for FG to halt the policy introduced in the Finance Act, signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 31, 2021, alongside the 2022 Appropriation Bill.

Dennis Ituma, Chief Superintendent of Customs, Department of Excise, Free Trade Zone and Industrial Incentives disclosed the new development on Thursday during an interactive session at a Policy Breakfast Meeting in Abuja.

The event was organized by the National Action on Sugar Reduction to proffer ways to implement tax and other interventions to reduce consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) in Nigeria.

Read also: Beverages manufacturers may hike prices to cushion new excise duty, competition

The Customs boss said the services had commenced taxing companies that produced Sugar-Sweetened Beverages on the 1st of June, 2023.

“The N10 per litre of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages has been implemented on June 1, by July 21, all excise duties must have been collected and paid into the federation account.

“It should interest you that taxation on SSBs was a policy of the Federal Government in 1984 but was stopped in January 2009.

“Previously both SSBs, alcoholic drinks and tobacco were all taxed until 2009 when SSBs was removed from taxable beverages.

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