|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 31 August 2003 |
 |
|
 |
News |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
IMF calls for review of rice tax by Chamikara Weerasinghe The government will stick to its decision to increase the import levy on rice, despite pressure from the International Monitoring Fund (IMF) to remove it altogether. Last week, the government increased the import tax on rice from Rs. 7 to 9, in a bid to reduce imports in the wake of a bumper paddy harvest. According to reliable sources , the IMF mission in Sri Lanka had requested the government to remove the import levy. The sources also said that Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake had vehemently opposed the request. However, Senior Residential Representative of the IMF in Colombo, Jeremy Carter maintained that they had never asked the government to abolish any specific tariff as such, but admitted that they had asked the government to review their current policy of high agriculture tariff, which directly affected the cost of living in Sri Lanka. Carter said that high agriculture tariff on rice had resulted in Sri Lankans having to pay a higher prices for rice. According to Minister of Paddy Cultivation Development, D.M. Bandaranayake, the increased import levy on rice is still being maintained by the government in spite of all "outside" pressures. The levy, he said was aimed at protecting farmers from being affected by a drop in paddy prices. Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR), Sarath Fernando accused the IMF mission in Sri Lanka as trying to encourage the local paddy farmers to shift to other crop cultivations as envisioned in their 1996 policy recommendations. He said that under Non-plantation Sector Policy Alternatives that IMF has recommended that Sri Lankan agriculture be shifted from paddy to high value crops , such as melon and baby corn. Bandaranayake countering the allegations said that moves are under way by the government to export rice. He also said that a subsidy of Rs. 7 per kilo of paddy had been given to enable the farmers to sell their crops at Rs. 13 per kilo against the present Rs. 7 to Rs 11 per kilo. "The Department of Agriculture has received requests from Dubai, Indonesia and some African countries to send Sri Lankan rice samples for their inspection," he said. The minister appealed to the public to increase the consumption of rice and rice-based food items to help paddy farmers to dispose of their harvests at a reasonable price. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
