The markets have recently witnessed a significant increase in cigarette prices, in a way that consumers described as exaggerated, and the new budget revealed clear increases in the taxes scheduled for cigarettes and domestic and imported tobacco, amounting to 31 million pounds of expected tax revenues.
The expected taxes on imported tobacco and cigarettes were estimated at 328.1 million pounds, an increase of 22 million pounds from last year's budget, which amounted to 306 million pounds, and the budget also expected to collect a customs tax on cigarettes worth 543.7 million pounds, a difference of 8.7 million pounds from last year's budget.
MP Abdel Moneim Imam, Secretary of the plan and Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, said that the increase in taxes on tobacco and cigarettes in the new budget is one of the reasons for the recent rise in cigarette prices, but it is not the only reason.
"Imam" added, to "Al-Masry Al-Youm", that the council has not received any decision to raise the customs tax, which makes traders take advantage of the situation to raise prices, because they know that this is an annual measure, and it happened before in the budget that there was a requirement for the government to raise the prices of crackers and pastries and was not implemented, prices did not move and the situation remained As for cigarettes, as soon as there was talk of decisions to raise prices, traders moved and raised them.
In addition, Hany Aman, CEO and managing director of the eastern smoke company "eastern company", revealed the expected measures and decisions that the company is working on in cooperation with regulatory and executive bodies to control cigarette prices.
Aman told Al Masry Al Youm that the official price of all the company's products remains the same, and although the prices are still fixed until this moment since last March, the prices exceed these levels by stages in the market, although the company is performing its assigned and required role and prices have not increased.
He explained that the company pumps production rates very carefully, according to the market share and daily consumption, but we do not know the reasons for the unprecedented monopolistic practices witnessed recently by some traders in the market, and what is happening during the recent period exceeded all acceptable limits on their part.
Source : Egypt Today
