Speakers at an event suggested to the government to immediately increase federal excise duty on sugary drinks which can help generate more than Rs60 billion to meet the revenue short fall.
The progressive tax increase can even potentially generate more than Rs100 billion from sugary drinks.
This was stated by speakers during an event organised by the Pakistan National Heart Association (Panah) in which former Pakistan Baitul Mal chairman and MPA Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokhar was the chief guest.
Participants were informed that Pakistan’s economy was facing serious challenges where debt and liabilities were skyrocketing. In this situation, the finance ministry needed to be more strategic in its approach to meet the revenue shortfall.
Consultant Food Policy Programme at Global Health Advocacy Munawar Hussain said sugary drinks were not necessity of the life and its increased cost will not impact common population. However, increasing cost of the fuels, energy and agriculture commodities will directly impact everyone. Similarly, crops standing on thousands of acres have been badly affected in the current rain flooding.
“Ministry of finance is planning to increase taxes on agriculture commodities and inputs which may add more challenges to the already vulnerable sector and can create serious threats to food security,” he said.
He said the government should prioritise progressively increasing federal excise duty on sugary drinks and passing the pending health contribution bill submitted by Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) to the cabinet.
Panah General Secretary Sanahullah Ghaman briefed the participants about Panah’s campaign on the harms of sugary drinks. He said Panah was not only working to raise awareness of general public on health harms of sugary drinks but it was also working with policy makers to reduce its consumption so that the burden of diseases can be reduced from the country.
“We can give a healthy Pakistan to the future generations. I urge Ministry of Finance and IMF not to increase fuel and energy prices as they will impact the lives of everyone. However, increasing tax on sugary drinks is a win-win situation for government where it can generate revenue and also reduce the disease burden,” he said.
National Coordinator at the NHS ministry Dr Khawaja Masood Ahmed said that beverage industry was growing more than 12pc annually and posing serious challenges to public health.
“The increased consumption of sugary drinks has made this country into a diabetic emergency where every third Pakistani adult is suffering from type 2 diabetes. In addition, more than 10 million people are already pre diabetic. If no immediate actions taken by the government, through a holistic approach, the number of people living with diabetes in Pakistan will increase to 62 million by 2045,” he said.
