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Alcohol levy could be disastrous for Lesotho – Wagamang
THE implementation of the proposed 15 percent alcohol levy in the
hopes of collecting M289m to supplement its budget deficit, Lesotho is doing itself a disservice as other African countries that have been down this road have proven that higher levies result in less revenue.
This is according to AB InBev Lesotho representative Sesupo Wagamang.
Mr Wagamang said the Lesotho government will inadvertently leave
itself and its people even more cash strapped when the state coffers
desperately need it.
after sustained overtures by the government to implement a 15
percent alcohol levy and a 30 percent levy on tobacco products.
Fresh trouble brewing for Lesotho’s beer industry
MASERU-FOR almost a year, the alcohol industry in Lesotho has been buckling under the massive weight of Covid-19 lockdowns.
Thrice in the last 11 months, the government of Lesotho banned the sale of alcohol in a desperate attempt to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The idea, the government says, was to free up space in hospital wards that would otherwise have been taken up by road accident victims.
Noble as that may have sounded at the time, that decision unfortunately hit the beer industry extremely hard.
At a time when the industry had barely recovered, and was still reeling from the effects of the Covid-19 lockdowns, Finance Minister Thabo Sofonea came up with another shocker: a new 15 percent levy on alcohol sales.