Cabinet yesterday made the decision to provide people affected by the drought a ‘relief pack’ with essential items worth Rs 5,000 per month for the next two months.
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Mahinda Amaraweera addressing the media at the end of the meeting with the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Cost of Living (CSCL) at the Finance Ministry said the relief items provided for the month will be split into two. Beneficiaries will receive Rs 2,500 worth of good every two weeks.
As the prevailing drought further devastates paddy harvests, Minister Amaraweera said the CSCL had also made the decision to decrease the Special Commodity Levy on rice import from Rs 5 per kilo to .25 cents per kilo.
Essential Items Importers Association Secretary, K.Ilamanathan explained that given the reduction in tax, importers have now been able to provide white raw rice (Vietnam) at Rs 60 per kilo, par boiled (Nadu) at Rs 72 per kilo and ponni rice at Rs 75 to 76 per kilo.
In addition, the Cabinet Sub-Committee has also opened up imports for wheat flour and wheat grain,
“Cess tax on wheat flour has been reduced from Rs 25 to Rs 15 and wheat grain tax has been reduced from Rs 9 to Rs 6”, Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera said.
He added that the maximum retail price of packeted flour too has been removed.
“The main reason behind reducing the price of flour is the prevailing drought. We are not aiming to make people switch to flour. Rice is our focus but local harvests have drastically reduced due to the drought.
In the next few months, even though the droughts continue, the government will ensure that the price of essential items remain stable. The government is also taking action to encourage food production”, Minister Amaraweera said.
The Fisheries Ministry has also requested that the special commodity levy on wet fish be reduced by Rs 50. Accordingly the levy on imported thalapath and koppara have been reduced from Rs 75 to Rs 25.
The Industry and Commerce Ministry in the meantime has drawn out MoUs to import 100,000 metric tonnes of par boiled (Nadu) rice and another 25,000 metric tonnes of white raw rice from Thailand.
Another MoU has been drawn up to import 30,000 metric tonnes of white raw rice from Myanmar.
The CWE, the Industry and Commerce Ministry announced had also “started extracting 51000 metric tonnes of paddy lying with the Paddy Marketing Board’s warehouses to mill in CWE’s own mills and through private millers”.
The Ministry expects 187,000 metric tonnes of rice to flood the market immediately.
The country consumes 200,000 metric tonnes rice a month.