Coke, Fanta prices to increase as FG imposes N10/litre excise duty on carbonated drinks

The prices of carbonated drinks are expected to go up shortly as the federal government introduced an excise duty of N10/litre on all non-alcoholic, carbonated and sweetened beverages.

Excise duty is a form of tax imposed on the production, licensing and sale of goods.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, during the public presentation of the 2022 Appropriation Act on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to her, the new policy introduced is in the Finance Act signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 31, 2021.

The minister had in 2019 announced that the government might introduce excise duty on carbonated drinks.

Also in 2020, the comptroller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ali, had proposed the collection of excise duty on soft drinks.

Again, in 2021 at an interactive session on the 2022-2024 medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF), organised by the house of representatives committee on finance, he floated the idea.

Apart from the new ‘Sugar Tax’ in section 17, Ahmed said the 2021 finance Act also raised excise duties and revenues for the health sector.

The minister said the excise duty on soft drinks would discourage excessive consumption of sugar beverages which contributes to diabetes, obesity among others.

The minister said: “There’s now an excise duty of N10/ per litre imposed on all non-alcoholic and sweetened beverages.

“And this is to discourage excessive consumption of sugar in beverages which contributes to a number of health conditions including diabetes and obesity.

“But also used to raise excise duties and revenues for health-related and other critical expenditures.

“This is in line also with the 2022 budget priorities.”