Prices of 920 goods up on new tax effect

Manama : The prices of more than 920 products – tobacco, energy drinks and soft drinks - rose in most of the commercial outlets in the Kingdom with the imposition of the excise tax from yesterday, the first taxation system to be implemented in Bahrain’s history.

The Finance Ministry had already posted the list of goods affected by the excise duty on its official website on Friday. The list showed the prices of 924 tobacco products, energy and soft drinks before and after levying the tax.

The new levies include 100 per cent tax on tobacco products and energy drinks, and 50 per cent on soft drinks, which were considered as “harmful products” by finance ministries in fellow GCC countries.

This raises the prices of the majority of soft drinks to BD0.225 and energy drinks to BD1.2. On the other hand, the prices of tobacco products varied between BD1.8 to BD2.4 for cigarettes and BD3 to BD3.5 for pipe tobacco and molasses.  

However, most commercial outlets continued to sell the products at the old prices yesterday.

“The prices will remain while the old stocks last” a spokesperson of a local hypermarket told DT News yesterday, adding that “cigarettes stocks are finishing quickly”.

“The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit which was held in Riyadh in 2015 agreed to implement the selective tax. The excise tax aims to encourage citizens to opt for healthy products, reduce the consumption of harmful goods, enhance social awareness and alleviate the financial burden resulting from the treatment of diseases,” the ministry stated in its most recent statement on the matter. 

The ministry called upon producers, importers and those involved in the storage of excise goods are required to register through its official website. 

It also warned that those who don’t comply with its norms in this regard would be subjected to fines of up to BD5,000.