ISLAMABAD: Health activists highly appreciated Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s fiscal policy stance of raising taxes on tobacco products in line with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.
During an event organized by Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) at a local hotel on Friday, health activists stated that this decision will help Pakistan’s economy provided that the government remains steadfast by not falling to tobacco industry’s misinformation campaign.
Malik Imran, Country Head, Campaign for tobacco-free kids (CTFK), mentioned that tobacco is the largest silent killer in Pakistan as above 337,500 people die due to tobacco use each year as reported by IHME, Global Burden of Disease 2019. This pandemic also causes an annual economic burden of 615 billion which is 1.6 percent of Pakistan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The industry claims to be the biggest major tax payers but the revenue generated from the tobacco industry is only 150 billion. He mentioned that on average Pakistani smokers spend 10 percent of their monthly income on cigarettes. Therefore this increase will make cigarettes go out of reach of low income citizens and children and thus saving them for its harms, and also making more disposable income available.
Malik Imran also highlighted that since deadly products of tobacco industry are snatching people’s precious resources, it is only fair that the industry is made to pay for the damages it is causing. Therefore the tobacco industry has no grounds to play victim card.
Instead of listening to the misinformation spread by tobacco industry, everyone must appreciate government’s decision which is in interest of Pakistan’s health and economy. Since 2014 the multinationals regularly report illicit cigarette trade to be at 40 percent of the total market whilst the actual number is 18 percent as per independent studies.
Most of these multinational companies are themselves part of the problem by allowing sales of their smuggled international brands.
Dr Ziauddin Islam, Former Technical Head, Tobacco Control Cell, Ministry of Health, mentioned that increased prices remain the most effective tool in keeping these killer products away from spending power of children and low-incomed groups.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023