By Kaddy Jawo
Between 2013 and 2017, the World Health Organisation (WHO) supported The Gambia change her excise tax-base on cigarettes from dalasi per kilogram to dalasi per pack and the environmental tax between cigarettes and other tobacco products to counter the shifting of smokers.
According to reports, the Gambia government has generated 470 million dalasi (at least $10 million) in revenue from tobacco tax alone in 2017.
This information was made available to journalists yesterday at the ongoing ECOWAS 19th Assembly Meeting of Health Ministers at a local hotel in Senegambia.
The report indicated that the new tax policy has increased revenue generated from tobacco products from GMD 155 million in 2017, and import volumes of tobacco products from 1.12 million kilogram in 2012 to 0.44 million kilogram in 2017 respectively.
In June last year, The Gambia marks two important milestones in tobacco control launched by Health minister Saffie Lowe-Ceesay.
Beside the financial gains, this policy is set to reduce the level of consumption of and exposure to tobacco products in The Gambia.
