Tax for gold imports slashed

By Nuwan Senarathna 

The Government yesterday announced tax cuts on gold imports, in a bid to curtail gold smuggling to Sri Lanka impacting the country’s gold reserves, Deputy Environment Minister Ajith Mannapperuma said.

The decision to reduce tax from 15% to 5% was made following requests made by industry leaders, Mannapperuma told reporters at a media briefing held in Sirikotha. 

According to him, an increasing number of smugglers bring gold though irregular means to avoid the tax, and may pose a threat to the country’s gold reserves. 

“If smugglers continue to sneak gold into the country, it might affect our gold reserves as well. Therefore as a Government, we have to act fast to prevent such incidents. We were told the 15% tax is a bit high. Once we were informed of this, we did not hesitate to take the decision to cut down the tax,” he added.

He said the National Gem and Jewellery Authority and Sri Lanka Customswill be in charge of the monitoring process to prevent any misconduct, pointing out that smuggling will harm the reputation of the industry as well as the country.    

“We only export around 120 kilograms of gold a month, so they will enjoy the benefit of this tax reduction based on their export value, as our sole intention is to encourage exports. We think this will be the best way to curtail the black market which is being functioned in the country,” he added.

Mannapperuma further said that due to the insufficient supply of gem resources, the Government has decided to import rough gemstones from countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar to add value locally and re-export, to reduce the tax imposed on the imports of rough gemstones. 

“When we decided to do so, we have faced some challenges to identify the people who are actually importing rough gemstones for re-export. Therefore, we decided to set up a monitoring mechanism with the help of the National Gem Jewellery Authority and Sri Lanka Customs,” he added.

He asserted that whatever decision was taken by the Government had only one intention, which was to boost the economy and create more job opportunities in the country.