RATIN

Brewer’s tax payment to Treasury surge by 10 pc

Posted on February, 19, 2020 at 11:10 pm


Brewer’s tax payment to Treasury surge by 10pc last year
 
Stable fiscal policies including unchanged excise tax on alcoholic drinks last year enabled Serengeti Breweries Limited to increase its tax payment to Treasury by 10% last fiscal year.
Briefing members of Parliamentary Budget Committee who paid a courtesy call at SBL main brewery in Dar es Salaam over the weekend, Managing Director, Mark Ocitti said the beer brewer paid 132bn/- in taxes last year compared to 121bn/- paid in 2018.
 
“The alcoholic industry in the country has been growing in recent years largely as a result of modest annual excise tax change which has enabled manufactures to maintain prices and as a result increase their sales volumes,” Ocitti said.
 
He said stability in excise tax rates over the past four years has enabled the alcohol manufacturers to maintain product prices which in turn resulted into increase in volumes sold in the market.
 
He told the lawmakers that the domestic market is price sensitive such that any changes have a negative impact hence advised Treasury to maintain the current excise duty rate in the next fiscal year covering 2020/21.
 
“To sustain the industry’s current growth momentum and subsequently lead to more revenue collection by the government, price stability is important,” the SBL chief added while stressing that the brewer is committed to the local market hence currently undertaking a10 million British pound sterling (over 30bn/-) expansion of its Dar brewery. The company currently employs over 700 people directly and thousands others indirectly across its value chain, he said.
 
Speaking at end of the visit, the Budget Committee’s Chairman, Mahimba Ndaki paid tribute to SBL management for deciding to expand its factories in the country noting that the move means an added market opportunity to farmers across the country who supply cereals such as maize, sorghum and barley used as raw materials.
 
“Our farmers are now assured of an added ready market for their produce as a result of this brewery expansion,” Ndaki said. SBL bought 17,000 tons of cereals from local farmers which was an equivalent of 70 percent of the company’s total annual raw material requirement for 2019.
 
Source: IPP Media