From January 2023 to April 17, 2024, the state collected Rs 11.2 billion in taxes on cigarettes, according to a document tabled in the National Assembly by the Minister of Finance, Renganaden Padayachy, in response to a question from the deputy of Mauritian Rally (RM), Nando Bodha.
In this document, it is revealed that, for the same period, more than 1.5 billion cigarettes were imported – or 1,558,361,600 to be precise – for an amount of Rs 4,039,935,801.
These cigarettes would mainly come from Kenya, according to the Minister of Finance, but also from other countries such as Belgium, Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, Italy, among others. Nando Bodha has expressed concern over the presence of “fake brands” circulating in the country and called for a “forensic test” of cigarettes available in the market.
