Sri Lanka is hiking taxes on several imported food products, described by an official as “semi-luxury food items”, reported the Sunday Times.
The items, to be taxed at a yet to be determined rate, include canned fish, fruit juices, beer, foreign liquor, sausages and processed foods such as meat, milk powder, butter cheese, cereal, and chocolate.
An official told the paper that the imposition of taxes on basic food items has resulted in a “heavy burden” on the poor and this burden should be “shifted onto the rich”, and the increase in taxes should promote more locally produced food.
He said if most foreign food products were produced in Sri Lanka, the local economy could replace food imports altogether.