Commissioner General of the Excise Department – Mr. M.J. Gunasiri yesterday (03) called for a report on unapproved price hikes of alcohol products.
The Commissioner General of Excise has told the media that he believes that these companies have taken steps to increase the price of liquor by various amounts due to the soaring prices of ingredients used to produce liquor.
He has also stated that even if this has been done, legal provisions to take any action against such producers do not exist.
Mr. Gunasiri says the increase of alcohol prices are usually done by the Ministry of Finance increasing tax on these products. However, this time, both the ministry and the Excise Department are unaware that prices have been upped.
As the Excise Department has concluded that this is not a favourable situation, we have urged them to notify us if there is any price increase in the future without the government approval, he added.