COLOMBO, Dec 1: Sri Lanka has extended a food import tax on potatoes to around 60,000 Lankan rupees a tonne (about 205 US dollars) but slashed a tax on onion to 10,000 rupees (about 34 dollars) from 40,000 rupees a tonne, according to a government gazette notification.
The taxes will apply from December 1 to 31, EconomyNext reported.
Sri Lanka has among the highest food taxes in the world, including on rice at 65,000 rupees a tonne, (about 222 US dollars at 292 rupees a dollar), which has kept prices among the highest in the globe, especially compared to incomes.
Sri Lanka has had a long-standing policy of promoting inefficient farming and favouring producers over the malnutrition of children, while building a so-called mafia of collectors, according to critics, the report said.
Sri Lanka also taxes maize and places import licensing, pushing up the cost of basic proteins like eggs and chicken meat.
Milk is also taxed heavily as is tinned fish, used by poor households without refrigerators (UNI)
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