cigarettes, alcohol to cost more from today

From today, the new amendment to the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco comes into effect. The president is expected to sign the new amendment today, setting the stage for enforcement of the new excise duties on tobacco and alcoholic beverages.

Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, confirmed the President’s approval of new excise duty rates for tobacco and alcoholic beverage over the weekend. She said the new excise duty rates were spread over a three-year period from 2018 to 2020 in order to moderate the impact on prices of the products.

The President, Adeosun added, also granted a grace period of 90 days (three months) to all manufacturers before the commencement of the new excise duty regime. There is no increase in excise duty on other locally excisable products.

In the newly approved excise duty rates for tobacco, in addition to the 20 per cent ad-valorem rate, each stick of cigarette will attract a N1 specific rate per stick (N20 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2018; N2 specific rate per stick (N40 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2019 and N2.90k specific rate per stick (N58 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2020.

The minister noted that Nigeria’s cumulative specific excise duty rate for tobacco was 23.2 per cent of the price of the most sold brand, as against 38.14 per cent in Algeria, 36.52 per cent in South Africa and 30 per cent in Gambia.

The new specific excise duty rate for alcoholic beverages cuts across beer and stout, wines and spirits for the three years 2018 to 2020. Under the new regime, beer and stout would attract N0.30k per centiliter (Cl) in 2018 and N0.35k per Cl each in 2019 and 2020. Wines would attract N1.25k per Cl in 2018 and N1.50k per Cl each in 2019 and 2020, while N1.50k per Cl was approved for Spirits in 2018, N1.75k per Cl in 2019 and N2.00k per Cl in 2020. The minister explained that the new excise duty regimes followed all-inclusive stakeholders’ engagements by the Tariff Technical Committee of the Federal Ministry of Finance with key industry stakeholders.

She explained that the upward review of the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco was to achieve a dual benefit of raising the government’s fiscal revenues and reducing the health hazards associated with tobacco-related diseases and alcohol abuse.

“The Tariff Technical Committee (TCC) recommended the slight adjustment in the excise duty charges after cautious considerations of the government’s Fiscal Policy Measures for 2018 and the reports of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund Technical Assistance Mission on Nigeria’s Fiscal Policy.

“The effect of the excise duty rates adjustment on trade and investment was also assessed by the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment and it adopted the recommendations of the TTC.

Furthermore, peer country comparisons were also carried out showing Nigeria as being behind the curve in the review of excise duty rates on alcoholic beverages and tobacco,” Adeosun said.Following the President’s approval, Adeosun said that the new excise duty rate on tobacco was now a combination of the existing ad-valorem base rate and specific rate while the ad-valorem rate was replaced with a specific rate for alcoholic beverages.

“For alcoholic beverages, the current ad-valorem rate will be replaced with specific rates and spread over three years to moderate the impact on prices. This will curb the discretion in the Unit Cost Analysis (UCA) for determining the ad-valorem rate and prevent revenue leakages,” the minister said.

Regarding tobacco, the Finance Minister noted that “the government will maintain the current advalorem rate of 20 per cent and introduce additional specific rates with the implementation to be spread over a three-year period to also reasonably reduce the impact on prices.”