Cairo – Mubasher: Tax on cigarettes is expected to increase early December, Egypt’s finance minister Amr El-Garhy said in a broadcast call to CBC.
The draft law will be sent for President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Wednesday for approval to be published on the country’s official Gazette, El-Garhy added, pointing out that it will be applied starting from next Thursday or Friday.
The minister attributed the anticipated hike in cigarettes tax to the high costs of production in the tobacco industry.
In another broadcast call to Alhayah TV, El-Garhy highlighted that this increase aims at cutting cigarettes consumption to bolster the healthcare and education sectors.
Cigarettes tax rates in Egypt are lower than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) conditional rates, compared with other countries, he indicated.
The increase in tax on cigarettes is calculated in Egypt’s general budget for fiscal year 2017/2018, he stressed.
The minister denied any huge impact on low-income citizens, noting that the prices of cigarettes in Egypt are low as compared to the world.
