Duty slashed on wheat grain

Re 1 levy on rice, sugar too reduced:

Irangika Range

On the orders of President Mahinda Rajapaksa as a Finance and Planing Minister, the Customs duty on the import of wheat grain has been totally removed to benefit consumers for the upcoming festive season.

Accordingly, the wholesale price of a kilo of wheat flour is expected to be reduced by Rs.10 in the market.

Trade, Marketing Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Services Minister Bandula Gunawardene told the Daily News that the Government has commenced a special program to provide relief to consumers by removing the taxes on the imports of consumer items since November 10 targeting the forthcoming festival.

“We wanted to provide maximum relief to the public who are getting ready to celebrate Christmas and New Year which they will be celebrating for the first time after the country was liberated from the LTTE by the heroic forces after 30 years,” he said.

In an attempt to build stocks and keep a lid on prices during the upcoming festivals, when demand peaks, the Government has removed customs duty on wheat grains, the Minister said.

Meanwhile, a Customs duty imposed on the import of rice has been reduced to Rs.1 allowing any trader to import rice to Sri Lanka during the festive season. Therefore, the move will be prevented any rice shortage occurring during the period.

He said that price of a kilo of samba rice and basmathi rice will be reduced to up to Rs.70 with the supply of sufficient rice stocks to the market.

The Minister said that sugar prices have gone up in the domestic market for the past few days due to sugar price increase in the world market. Therefore, we have decided to reduce a custom duty to Re.1 on the sugar import allowing traders to import sufficient stocks to the country.

With the removal of custom duties on the import prices of wheat flour, rice and sugar, are expected to come down in the market,” the Minister added.