Finance and Public Enterprises Minister Iipumbu Shiimi has confirmed that the government has no plans to introduce a sugar tax, even though it could generate additional revenue.
Shiimi told The Brief that the country would need to conduct a feasibility study to assess the impacts of imposing a sugar tax on sugary beverage retailers.
“Sugar tax is not something that is in our plans for now. But we have to do an impact assessment first to see how it’s going to impact different stakeholders before we come to the final decision,” he said.
Despite sugar tax being a prospective revenue generating stream as shown in SADC countries like South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Shiimi said the country was reluctant to impose sugar tax.
“…revenue is one aspect…definitely, we will generate revenue from that, but I think what is also important is to understand who is going to be impacted, how and will the benefits outweigh the costs. That’s why it’s important to do that impact assessment before we reach a conclusion,” Shiimi noted.
Furthermore, Shiimi emphasised doing a feasibility study on risk assessment, impact and costs involved with imposing a sugar tax on sugar-producing companies and products before considering the sugar tax in Namibia.
“Let us first do the feasibility study so that we can conclusively say yes, it can be done and it is going to benefit Namibia. Then it’s going to impose an unnecessary cost on Namibia. One will have to weigh those costs, we will only be able to arrive at that decision once we do the feasibility study or the impact assessment,” he said.
Shiimi said the idea of a sugar tax might have been suggested, but it hasn’t been seriously considered or developed into a policy.
“I think if it was proposed, it was probably just an idea that came from someone. But it has not gone very far, as far as I know. I think the fact of the matter is we don’t have that as part of our policy plans at the moment. We have to do that impact assessment before we make it part of our plans,” he said.
Director General of National Planning Commission Obeth Kandjoze also told The Brief that the government has no plans to introduce the sugar tax.
The sugar tax is designed to reduce the consumption of sweetened beverages by making them more expensive to purchase as part of an effort to lessen the prevalence of diabetes, obesity and other related non-communicable diseases.
