Essentials not affected by NBT

Irangika RANGE

Prices of essential items are not affected since they have been excluded from the Nation Building Tax (NBT) Trade, Marketing Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Services Minister Bandula Gunawardhana said.

Addressing the media in Colombo, the Minister said that certain political parties which cannot come to terms with their defeat at the recent Western Provincial Council Election had made a number of false statements that this new tax would definitely be imposed on every person in the country once it is passed by the House. “Their allegations have already been proved as false with the reduction of the inflation rate by 2.9 percent in April,” he said.

”This is mainly due to the prudent and correct financial policies followed by the Central Bank and the state’s effort to provide maximum relief to the consumers,” he said.

“The Government will take all possible actions to maintain the inflation rate at a single digit throughout the year bringing relief to consumers,”he further said.

The Minister said that the Government through the 105 Laksathosa branches, twelve dedicated economic centers, 363 of Coop cities established across the country are selling a number of essential items at a lower prices to the consumers.

Lak Sathosa sells a kilo of Samba rice, Nadu rice, white raw rice and red raw rice respectively at Rs.68, Rs.58, Rs.55 and Rs.50.

Consumers can purchase a kilo of potatoes, big onions, dhal, white sugar, garlic, green gram, gram, white kawpi, dried chillies, sprats, canned fish(425g), chicken (Prima), Sault powder respectively at Rs.65, Rs. 65, Rs.179, Rs.79.50, Rs.77, Rs.120. Rs.149, Rs.110, Rs.209, Rs.350, Rs.174, Rs.315 and Rs.24.

When the country was battered by the global economic and financial crises, the inflation rate were increased up to 28 percent in last June. “We realized difficulties it would place on ordinary masses and took maximum effort to minimize the burdens on consumers through the Cost of Living Committee chaired by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Government has also exempted a number of taxes imposed on the import of several essential items though it had incurred a heavy loss of state revenue,”he said.