Business News
TAX WINDFALL: Nigeria produces about 21 billion sticks of Cigarette per annum
The Federal Government on Sunday announced an increase in the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco with effect from June 4, 2018. The increase in taxes will be phased from now till 2020. An excise duty tax is a tax charged on goods produced within a country.
Last November, the Minister for Finance Kemi Adeosun revealed that the government was planning to introduce new excise taxes for alcohol and tobacco. She said this at the Ecowas summit of Finance Ministers in Abuja. In that same summit, Edward Singhatey, ECOWAS vice president, also revealed that the commission would increase excise duties on tobacco and other unhealthy products to increase revenue and reduce consumption of such products in the sub-region.
Tax windfall for the government
Nairametrics research as at 2016 suggests about 21 billion sticks of cigarettes were produced in the country. 12 billion of these sticks were sold in Nigeria and the rest sold in West African Markets.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics reveal Nigeria’s beverage and tobacco imports were N64.9 billion in 2017 up from N49 billion in 2016. Nigeria’s tobacco export was N8.9 billion in the 4th quarter of 2017 alone. However, within Africa, Nigeria’s mainly exports tobacco to Ivory Coast, Benin Republic and Burkina Faso. Total African exports were about N2.3 billion.
According to the new taxes, a stick cigarette will attract a ₦1 specific rate per stick (₦20 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2018, a ₦2 specific rate per stick (₦40 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2019 and ₦2.90k specific rate per stick (₦58 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2020.The current ad valorem tax of 20% on cigarettes will, however, remain in place.
Based on this data, the Nigerian Government in 2018 stands to earn about N21 billion in new taxes from Cigarette produced in the country. Another, 42 billion in 2019 and about N60 billion in 2020.
Our sources also inform us that British American Tobacco (BAT) is the market leader for tobacco in Nigeria and controls about 78% of the market share and closer to 82% for the West African Market, according to 2016 data cited by Nairametrics.
Energy
Togo, Niger, Benin remit N2.04 billion to Nigeria for power supply
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission says international electricity customers remitted the sum of N2.04billion to Nigeria in three months.
Nigeria’s international electricity customers – Togo, Niger, and Benin, remitted the sum of N2.04billion in the first quarter of 2020, as their outstanding electricity bill to the Market Operator (MO) of the sector in Nigeria.
This was found in the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission 2020 first quarter report, which was released recently.
According to the report, a total of N4.05billion ($13.22million) invoices were issued by the MO to international customers including Societe Nigerienne d’electricite or NIGELEC; Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique (SBEE); and Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET).
The commission stated that during the quarter, NIGELEC made a payment of ₦1.61billion ($5.27million) as part of its outstanding bills for the energy received from NBET and services rendered by the MO.
It stated, “Similarly, SBEE paid ₦0.43billion ($1.39million) in respect of services received from MO.
“It was noteworthy that tariff shortfall (represented by the difference between actual end-user tariffs payable by consumers and the cost-reflective rates approved by NERC) had partly contributed to liquidity challenges being experienced in the industry.
“The settlement ratio to the expected Minimum Remittance Thresholds, having adjusted for tariff shortfall, indicated that power distribution companies needed to improve on their performance.”
But …
Special customers like Ajaokuta Steel Co. Ltd and others in its environs did not make any payment in respect of the N0.27billion and N0.05billion invoices issued to them by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the MO respectively, during the period under view.
Meanwhile, the power distributors failed to remit N119.88billion to the sector within the same period.
“Whereas Discos were expected to make a market remittance of 46.09% during 2020/Q1, only 32.53% settlement rate was achieved within the timeframe provided for market settlement in the Market Rules,” it added.
What it means: The Discos’ remittance level, regardless of the prevailing tariff shortfall, was still below the expected MRT and they are expected to improve on their performances.
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