The Federal Gov’t of Somalia has halted the collection of taxes on basic commodities from traders for the next three months over the impact of the deadly outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.
The ministry of finance disclosed 100 % tax exemption for rice and dates and 50 % exemption of taxes for wheat flour and cooking oil.
This was announced by the minister of finance Abdirahman Beileh.
The exemption of taxes from basic commodities will take effect on 15th April and is aimed at easing the burden from vulnerable section of the community as the government fears that there will be a price hike prior to the holy month of Ramadan.
Beileh has also predicted a sharp decrease of 40 percent in government’s revenue due to the effects of COVID-19 pandemic.
Somalia’s fiscal budget is 459.5 million U.S. dollars for the financial year ending 2019/2020 which is 130 million dollars more than the previous fiscal year.
Somalia has so far registered up to 55 cases of Covid-19 including two deaths.
