Connect with us

News

SL earns Rs. 4.3bn in import taxes on rice

Published

on

Sri Lanka has earned 4.3 billion rupees in taxes from imports of 67,000 metric tonnes of rice, reports said, indicating the extent the consumer is taxed to grow expensive rice in the country.

Sri Lanka taxes rice at 65 rupee a kilogram (65,000 rupees a tone) to keep the basic staple of the people, about 50 percent higher than the rest of the world.

The ‘tax’ paid by the consumer in the process of filling their stomachs, is ‘arbitraged’ by the paddy producing and marketing lobby.

Though the International Monetary Fund claims that the tax to GDP ratio is low, a large volume of taxes paid to keep protected businesses are ‘arbitraged’ by domestic industries who are not competitive due to years of protection.

Though the people pay the tax plus price, the money does not go to the Treasury but is pocketed by producers who have no incentive to boost yields.

Sri Lanka produced 1.65 million metric tonnes of rice in the last Maha season and 1.24 million in the Yala season, taking the total to 2.89 million kilograms.

The total tax arbitraged from customers compared to regional prices is 187.8 billion rupees for the rice sector which shows the extra money people in Sri Lanka pay to fill their stomachs. It is about 0.6 percent of GDP.

Sri Lanka is said to have been growing rice at least 800 BC and irrigation works date back over 300 BC, making rice growing one of the oldest ‘infant’ industries in the world.

Both India and Pakistan have export competitive rice industries producing globally traded grades of rice. In Sri Lanka, rice is grown for self-sufficiency or autarky, a concept that gained ground in Nazi Germany following Allied blockades of 1914-18 during World War I.

Infant industry was also taken to food by German historical economists like Adolf Wagner in the run up to full National Socialism.

“The representative literary champion of modern German protectionism was Adolf Wagner,” explained Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises.

“The essence of his teachings is this: All countries with an excess production of foodstuffs and raw materials are eager to develop domestic manufacturing and to bar access to foreign manufactures; the world is on the way to economic self-sufficiency for each nation.

“Adolf Wagner was not a keen mind. He was a poor economist. The same is true of his partisans. But they were not so dull as to fail to recognize that protection is not a panacea against the dangers which they depicted.

“Import duties for food were in their eyes a short-run remedy only, a measure for a period of transition. The ultimate remedy was war and conquest.”

Another German theoretician Karl Marx, also criticized import protection particularly in foods, saying it was to speculate on the famine of the people.

His friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels, who studied protectionism in depth, said it was an ‘endless screw’ from which there was no escape, as a political constituency was created.
(ECONOMYNEXT) 
Except for the headline, this story, originally published by ECONOMYNEXT has not been edited by SLM staff

News

COVID subvariants spreading in Asia detected in Sri Lanka

Published

on

By

The Medical Research Institute of Sri Lanka has confirmed that the COVID-19 variant currently spreading in the Asian region has also been identified in the country.

Dr. Jude Jayamaha, a specialist in viral diseases at the Medical Research Institute, stated that patients infected with the Omicron subvariants LF.7 and XFG are being reported locally.

Dr. Jayamaha explained that this finding was confirmed through research conducted on biological samples collected from several hospitals across the island.

However, he emphasized that there is no need for undue fear regarding these COVID-19 variants.

Health authorities have also stressed the importance of vulnerable groups—such as pregnant mothers, the elderly, and those with chronic illnesses—following health guidelines, including wearing face masks and avoiding crowded places.

Dr. Jayamaha reiterated that new COVID-19 variants emerge periodically, and health authorities are continuously monitoring the situation, so the public should remain calm.

(newswire.lk)

(This story, originally published by newswire.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

Continue Reading

News

Anudi misses out from Miss World Quarter-Finals

Published

on

By

The Miss World organization has announced its quarter-finalists, selecting 40 contestants from across Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

Sri Lanka’s Anudi Gunasekara, was not selected in the top 40, despite being recognized for her impressive performances in the Multimedia and Head-to-Head challenges.

The top 40 consisted of 10 contestants each from Asia & Oceania, Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Continue Reading

News

Fuel prices unchanged

Published

on

By

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) announced that there will be no revision of fuel prices for the month of June 2025.

Accordingly, all fuel prices will remain unchanged for June, it said.  

Existing fuel prices (per litre):

Auto Diesel – Rs. 274
Super Diesel – Rs. 325
Petrol 92 Octane – Rs. 293
Petrol 95 Octane – Rs. 341
Kerosene – Rs. 178

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2024 Sri Lanka Mirror. All Rights Reserved